(Reuters) -Drug developer Cytokinetics said on Wednesday its experimental drug aficamten, to treat a type of chronic heart disease, had met the main goal of a keenly awaited late-stage study.
The San Francisco-based company’s shares rose over 40% in premarket hours.
Aficamten is being developed as a potential treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes thickening of the heart muscles and can lead to cardiac arrest.
In the study, treatment with the oral drug significantly improved exercise capacity in patients compared to placebo, the company said.
Cytokinetics, which is banking on the success of aficamten to drive its future growth, said that the drug was well-tolerated with an adverse event profile comparable to placebo.
(Reporting by Khushi Mandowara and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
