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Cytokinetics’ Failure In ALS Clears Way For Focus On Aficamten

 
• By Joseph Haas

With a data monitoring committee finding no signs of efficacy in a Phase III trial of ALS candidate reldesemtiv, Cytokinetics can conserve cash and center on aficamten for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

change of focus
With its ALS program shuttered, Cytokinetics will put all focus on aficamten • Source: Shutterstock

Cytokinetics, Inc. searched for a glimmer of hope with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) candidate reldesemtiv for years, but has now given up on the drug after a data monitoring committee found no signs of efficacy in an interim look at the Phase III COURAGE-ALS study. The company said on 31 March that it will terminate the trial and all dosing of reldesemtiv, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator, including among patients in a Phase III open-label extension study.

This is the second major setback for the South San Francisco-based firm in recent weeks, following the US Food and...

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