THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Cytokinetics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:CYTK) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for omecamtiv mecarbil, a novel selective cardiac myosin activator, also known as a cardiac myotrope,1 being developed for the potential treatment of chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Fast Track designation may potentially expedite the review of a drug that is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and demonstrates the potential to address an unmet medical need for such a disease or condition.

"This Fast Track designation represents an important milestone in the development of omecamtiv mecarbil," said David M. Reese, M.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. "Today, half of heart failure patients will die within five years of diagnosis, underscoring the urgent need for new therapies for this grievous condition."

"We are pleased that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation for omecamtiv mecarbil for the potential treatment of heart failure," said Robert I. Blum, president and chief executive officer of Cytokinetics. "The prevalence of heart failure is growing with our aging demographics, and GALACTIC-HF is designed to assess the clinical effects of our novel myosin activator in patients meaningfully at risk."

GALACTIC-HF (Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac Outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure), one of the largest Phase 3 global cardiovascular (CV) outcomes studies in heart failure ever conducted, is designed to evaluate whether treatment with omecamtiv mecarbil, when added to standard of care, reduces the risk of heart failure events (heart failure hospitalization and other urgent treatment for heart failure) and CV death in patients with HFrEF. GALACTIC-HF enrolled 8,256 patients in 35 countries who were either hospitalized at the time of enrollment for a primary reason of heart failure or had a hospitalization or admission to an emergency room for heart failure within one year prior to screening. Dose selection for omecamtiv mecarbil in this study uses a blood test. Top-line results from GALACTIC-HF are expected in Q4 2020.

About Omecamtiv Mecarbil and the Phase 3 Clinical Trials Program

Omecamtiv mecarbil is a novel, selective cardiac myosin activator, also known as a cardiac myotrope,1 that binds to the catalytic domain of myosin. Preclinical research has shown that omecamtiv mecarbil increases cardiac contractility without increasing intracellular myocyte calcium concentrations or myocardial oxygen consumption. Cardiac myosin is the cytoskeletal motor protein in the cardiac muscle cell that is directly responsible for converting chemical energy into the mechanical force resulting in cardiac contraction. 2-4 

Omecamtiv mecarbil is being developed for the potential treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) under a collaboration between Amgen and Cytokinetics, with funding and strategic support from Servier. Omecamtiv mecarbil is the subject of a comprehensive Phase 3 clinical trials program composed of GALACTIC-HF (Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac Outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure), a Phase 3 clinical trial designed to evaluate the effect of treatment with omecamtiv mecarbil compared to placebo on CV outcomes and METEORIC-HF (Multicenter Exercise Tolerance Evaluation of Omecamtiv Mecarbil Related to Increased Contractility in Heart Failure), a Phase 3 clinical trial designed to evaluate the effect of treatment with omecamtiv mecarbil compared to placebo on exercise capacity.

About Heart Failure

Heart failure is a grievous condition that affects more than 64 million people worldwide5 about half of whom have reduced left ventricular function.6,7 It is the leading cause of hospitalization and readmission in people age 65 and older.8,9 Despite broad use of standard treatments and advances in care, the prognosis for patients with heart failure is poor.10 An estimated one in five people over the age of 40 are at risk of developing heart failure, and approximately 50 percent of people diagnosed with heart failure will die within five years of initial hospitalization.11,12 

About Cytokinetics and Amgen Collaboration

In 2006, Cytokinetics and Amgen entered into a strategic alliance to discover, develop and commercialize novel small molecule therapeutics designed to activate the cardiac sarcomere for the potential treatment of heart failure. Omecamtiv mecarbil is being developed by Amgen in collaboration with Cytokinetics, with funding and strategic support from Servier. Amgen holds an exclusive, worldwide license to omecamtiv mecarbil and related compounds, subject to Cytokinetics' specified development and commercialization rights. Cytokinetics is eligible for pre-commercialization and commercialization milestone payments and royalties that escalate based on increasing levels of annual net sales of products commercialized under the agreement. Cytokinetics has co-invested with Amgen in the Phase 3 development program of omecamtiv mecarbil in exchange for increased royalties from Amgen on worldwide sales of omecamtiv mecarbil outside Japan and co-promotion rights in institutional care settings in North America.  Amgen has also entered an alliance with Servier for exclusive commercialization rights for omecamtiv mecarbil in Europe as well as the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia. Servier contributes funding for development and provides strategic support to the program.

About Amgen

Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.

Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its biologics manufacturing expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be the world's largest independent biotechnology company, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential. 

For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/amgen.

About Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class muscle activators and next-in-class muscle inhibitors as potential treatments for debilitating diseases in which muscle performance is compromised and/or declining. As a leader in muscle biology and the mechanics of muscle performance, the company is developing small molecule drug candidates specifically engineered to impact muscle function and contractility. Cytokinetics is collaborating with Amgen Inc. (Amgen) to develop omecamtiv mecarbil, a novel cardiac muscle activator. Omecamtiv mecarbil is the subject of an international clinical trials program in patients with heart failure including GALACTIC-HF and METEORIC-HF. Amgen holds an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize omecamtiv mecarbil with a sublicense held by Servier for commercialization in Europe and certain other countries. Cytokinetics is developing reldesemtiv, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator (FSTA) for the potential treatment of ALS and other neuromuscular indications following conduct of FORTITUDE-ALS and other Phase 2 clinical trials. The company is considering potential advancement of reldesemtiv to Phase 3 pending ongoing regulatory interactions. Cytokinetics is collaborating with Astellas Pharma Inc. (Astellas) to research, develop and commercialize other novel mechanism skeletal sarcomere activators (not including FSTAs). Licenses held by Amgen and Astellas are subject to specified co-development and co-commercialization rights of Cytokinetics. Cytokinetics is also developing CK-274, a novel cardiac myosin inhibitor that company scientists discovered independent of its collaborations, for the potential treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. Cytokinetics continues its over 20-year history of pioneering innovation in muscle biology and related pharmacology focused to diseases of muscle dysfunction and conditions of muscle weakness.

For additional information about Cytokinetics, visit www.cytokinetics.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

References

1. Psotka MA, Gottlieb SS, Francis GS et al. Cardiac Calcitropes, Myotropes, and Mitotropes. JACC. 2019; 73:2345-53.
2. Planelles-Herrero VJ, Hartman JJ, Robert-Paganin J. et al. Mechanistic and structural basis for activation of cardiac myosin force production by omecamtiv mecarbil. Nat Commun. 2017;8:190.
3. Shen YT, Malik FI, Zhao X, et al. Improvement of cardiac function by a cardiac myosin activator in conscious dogs with systolic heart failure. Circ Heart Fail. 2010; 3: 522-27.
4. Malik FI, Hartman JJ, Elias KA, Morgan BP, Rodriguez H, Brejc K, Anderson RL, Sueoka SH, Lee KH, Finer JT, Sakowicz R. Cardiac myosin activation: a potential therapeutic approach for systolic heart failure. Science. 2011 Mar 18;331(6023):1439-43.
5. GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Lancet 2018; 392: 1789–858.
6. Yancy CW, Jessup M, Bozkurt B, et al. 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart failure: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Circulation. 2013;128:e240-e327. 
7. Ponikowski  P, Voors  AA, Anker  SD, et al. 2016 ESC guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure: The Task Force for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Developed with the special contribution of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC. Eur Heart J. 2016;37:2129–2200.
8. Roger VL. Epidemiology of Heart Failure. Circulation Research. 2013;113:646-659, originally published August 29, 2013. Doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.113.300268.
9. Kilgore M, Patel HK, Kielhorn A et al. Economic burden of hospitalizations of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2017; 10: 63-70. 
10. Jhund PS, MacIntyre K, Simpson CR, et al. Long-Term Trends in First Hospitalization for Heart Failure and Subsequent Survival Between 1986 and 2003. Circulation. 2009;119:515-523.
11. Benjamin EJ, Muntner P, Alonso A. et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2019 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2019;139:e56-e528.
12. Rogers VL, Weston SA, Redfield MM, et al. Trends in Heart Failure Incidence and Survival in a Community-Based Population. JAMA. 2004;292:344-350.

SOURCE Amgen

Posted: May 2020