As Novartis backs off, Amgen said to be after Cytokinetics

Speculation about a takeover play for Cytokinetics isn’t going away, with Amgen the latest company to be linked to the company and its highly-anticipated cardiovascular drug aficamten.

Reports that Novartis was in advanced negotiations over a bid for Cytokinetics emerged early last week as the JP Morgan Healthcare conference got underway, but by the end of the week there was no news of a deal and mutterings that Novartis’ interest in the biotech had cooled.

The latest rumour seems to have emerged from the Betaville tip sheet penned by former M&A and markets editor at The Daily Telegraph Ben Harrington, via Seeking Alpha, with Amgen’s name emerging alongside other potential suitors, including Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

Cytokinetics is said to be holding out for between $130 to $145 a share, according to Betaville, citing sources familiar with the matter, but suggestions on Friday that Novartis was backing away weakened Cytokinetics share price.

Shares in the company shot up to around $108 million after the rumour of Novartis’ interest in making a $10 billion takeover bid first emerged, having already risen sharply on the report of positive results for cardiac myosin inhibitor aficamten in the pivotal SEQUOIA-HCM trial in obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) at the end of December. They have since lost a chunk of those gains and are currently trading at $85.60, giving Cytokinetics a market cap of around $8.4 billion.

The SEQUOIA-HCM data suggests that the company is on track to bring aficamten to market as a rival to Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Camzyos (mavacamten), which is currently the only FDA-approved treatment for HCM and has been tipped as a future blockbuster.

HCM is an inherited disorder in which the heart muscle becomes thickened and can obstruct blood flow, and affects around 280,000 people in the US, of whom around two-thirds have the obstructive form of the disease. It is one of the most common reasons for sudden cardiac death in people who are younger than 35.

Cytokinetics has said that the broad efficacy and encouraging safety profile of aficamten give it a chance of becoming the “cardiac myosin inhibitor of choice among physicians and patients.”

If the rumour of Amgen’s interest in Cytokinetics turns out to be true, it’s worth noting that the two companies have a history. Amgen was Cytokinetics’ partner for aficamten stablemate omecamtiv mecarbil, a cardiac myosin activator, but pulled out of the deal before the drug was rejected by the FDA as a treatment for congestive heart failure last year.