Tag: drug

Promising Data about Aficamten Presented at Meetings

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Encouraging data about the Cytokinetics investigational drug aficamten was presented over the weekend at 2 scientific meetings held in Washington D.C.

The inaugural Scientific Sessions of the newly formed HCM Society took place on Friday, while the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Annual Scientific Meeting continues through October 3.

Both meetings featured presentations of data from the REDWOOD-HCM Open Label Extension trial.  The REDWOOD trial is a Stage 2 clinical trial of the second generation myosin modulator aficamten.

The HCM Society presentation showed that a significant number of patients on aficamten were able to discontinue one or more background drugs which they had been taking together with aficamten to address their symptoms.

The HFSA presentation, given by Dr. Sara Saberi of the University of Michigan’s HCM Center, showed that in addition to seeing a substantial reduction to left ventricular outflow tract gradients, patients self reported significant improvements to their symptoms and their quality of life. The improvements were evidenced through questionnaires filled out by the patients after 24 weeks on aficamten.

Cytokinetics is currently enrolling patients with symptomatic obstructive HCM in its Stage 3 trial of aficamten, called SEQUOIA – HCM, while they continue looking at the impact of aficamten on non-obstructive HCM in cohort 4 of the REDWOOD-HCM trial.

You can find all of the past HCMBeat blog entries about aficamten in the links below:

2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM

HCM Clinical Trials – the Latest News

The Future of HCM Care

Positive Signs from REDWOOD-HCM

Cytokinetic’s Drug Aficamten & Upcoming HCM Summit – Interview with Dr. Martin Maron

Aficamten Gets “Breakthrough Drug” Status from FDA

More on Aficamten & Mavacamten from ACC 2022

Cytokinetics Announces its Phase 2 Clinical Trial – “Redwood-HCM”

Cytokinetics Moves Forward with HCM Drug Trial

Cytokinetics Announces Positive Results from REDWOOD-HCM Phase 2 Clinical Trial

FDA Approves Mavacamten under Brand Name Camzyos

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At long last, there is a FDA approved drug specifically intended for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  After several years of testing, and based on the results of the groundbreaking EXPLORER-HCM trial, Bristol Myers Squibb’s new drug mavacamten, being marketed under the brand name Camzyos, is now available to HCM patients.

Continue reading “FDA Approves Mavacamten under Brand Name Camzyos” →

Guest Blogger Gwen Mayes, JD, MMSc – Cautiously Awaiting the Release of Mavacamten

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            Fifteen years ago, I referred myself to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to be evaluated for a septal myectomy by what was at the time, one of the country’s few expert centers for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.   I traveled to Mayo from my native state, Kentucky, on a brief hiatus from a well-established career in health policy in Washington, DC.

Continue reading “Guest Blogger Gwen Mayes, JD, MMSc – Cautiously Awaiting the Release of Mavacamten” →

Aficamten Gets “Breakthrough Drug” Status from FDA

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Cytokinetics has announced that its experimental drug aficamten, currently in trials as a potential treatment for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, has received breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA.  This designation is awarded by the FDA to certain drugs which may offer substantial improvement to patients over available therapies. The designation could shorten the FDA approval process for the drug by about 4 months.

You can read more about Cytokinetics and aficamten in these older posts from HCMBeat: 

Interview with Dr. Martin Maron about Cytokinetic’s Drug Aficamten 

Cytokinetics Announces Positive Results from REDWOOD-HCM Phase 2 Clinical Trial

Cytokinetics Moves Forward with HCM Drug Trial

Cytokinetics Announces its Phase 2 Clinical Trial

Positive Signs from REDWOOD-HCM

The Future of HCM Care

HCM Clinical Trials – the Latest News

2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM

Scientists Get $10 Million Grant to Develop HCM Treatments

 

 

What Should Mavacamten Cost?

Published on by hcmbeat1 Comment

On October 22, patients, physicians, and other interested parties will have the opportunity to provide input on the value and cost of mavacamten – the first drug specifically designed to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Last year, Bristol Myers Squibb paid $13.1 billion to acquire MyoKardia, the San Francisco biotech company that developed the drug and brought it through clinical trials.

At a virtual public meeting, The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review or ICER will listen to further testimony in order to evaluate mavacamten’s value and potential benefits. ICER is a non-profit organization that evaluates the cost effectiveness of drugs and medical procedures. Many insurance companies rely on ICER’s findings when deciding how much to pay for a certain treatment or test. 

In an Effectiveness Report which was published today, ICER valued the benefit that mavacamten would bring to a patient at between $12,000 to $15,000 a year. By contrast, some analysts have suggested that mavacamten could carry a price tag as high as $75,000 per patient per year.

 If you would like to share your thoughts at the online public meeting click here to sign up.  

You can find a press release from ICER about their review of mavacamten here.

Cytokinetic’s Drug Aficamten & Upcoming HCM Summit – Interview with Dr. Martin Maron

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Editor’s note:  You have probably noticed a distinct uptick in clinical trials of potential treatments for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  HCMBeat has been following this trend and has previously published a host of stories about such trials, including this story about the positive results from the REDWOOD-HCM Phase 2 clinical trial, as well as past stories discussing the biopharmaceutical company Cytokinetics, its  drug aficamten (previously known as CK-274), and the REDWOOD-HCM trial.

Some of these earlier stories are as follows: 

2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM

HCM Clinical Trials – the Latest News

Positive Signs from REDWOOD-HCM

Cytokinetics Moves Forward with HCM Drug Trial

Recently, Cynthia Waldman of HCMBeat had the opportunity to speak over Zoom with Dr. Martin Maron, who recently served as the principal investigator of Cytokinetics’ REDWOOD trial.  The conversation focused both on Cytokinetic’s drug aficamten (previously known as CK-274), and the new class of drugs known as “myosin inhibitors.”  What follows is a transcript of their conversation (which has been edited for readability). 

Continue reading “Cytokinetic’s Drug Aficamten & Upcoming HCM Summit – Interview with Dr. Martin Maron” →

Drug Trial for Non-Obstructive HCM

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Yet another company is developing a new drug for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and this time, the drug is intended for non-obstructive HCM patients.  The company is Imbria Pharmaceuticals, and this week they announced the randomizing of the first patient in their Phase 2 study of the drug IMB-101 in patients with non-obstructive HCM.  The study, called IMPROVE-HCM, is a Phase 2 study that will look at the safety and tolerability of this drug in non-obstructed HCM patients. IMB-101 is designed to increase the efficiency of the heart’s use of energy which will be measured through cardiopulmonary exercise testing over a 12 week period.

You can read this press release and you can read more about the trial on ClinicalTrials.gov here.

More Positive Data on Mavacamten Presented at ACC Meeting

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More positive data about the Bristol Myers Squibb experimental drug mavacamten was revealed at last weekend’s American College of Cardiology meeting and simultaneously published in The Lancet.

The data showed improvement in how patients felt taking the drug, as reported and quantified by the patients themselves. The clinical trial participants filled out a questionnaire called the KCCQ, or Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, 6 different times over the 38 weeks that the trial was ongoing.

Continue reading “More Positive Data on Mavacamten Presented at ACC Meeting” →

Cytokinetics Announces its Phase 2 Clinical Trial – “Redwood-HCM”

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Cytokinetics today announced that its Phase 2 double-blind study of its experimental drug CK-274 entitled “REDWOOD-HCM” (Randomized Evaluation of Dosing With CK-274 in Obstructive Outflow Disease in HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) has begun enrollment.  The trial will enroll patients with symptomatic, obstructive HCM.

CK-274 is a next-generation cardiac myosin inhibitor which the company hopes will prove to be beneficial for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

There are currently two companies in clinical trials for HCM:  Cytokinetics and MyoKardia. You can read more about their efforts here and here.

 

2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM

Published on by hcmbeat9 Comments

Two San Francisco based companies are now conducting clinical trials for three drugs specifically targeting HCM.

Continue reading “2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM” →