Cytokinetics, Inc.

Dive Brief:Royalty Pharma has grabbed rights to a share in revenue from lung cancer drug Imdelltra, announcing Monday it will pay $885 million upfront for BeOne Medicines royalties paid by partner Amgen for sales outside China. BeOne, formerly known as BeiGene, has rights to Imdelltra revenue because of a $2.7 billion collaboration deal it struck with Amgen in 2019.Per deal terms, BeOne has the option to sell another chunk of Imdelltra royalties in the next year for $65 million, bringing the deal total to around $950 million. Royalty said the initial royalty stream amounted to approximately 7% of worldwide net sales.Launched in 2024 for small cell lung cancer, Imdelltra earned sales of $215 million through the first six months of 2025, most of it in the U.S. under an accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Amgen recently reported data from a clinical trial showing the drug extends survival compared with chemotherapy, which should secure its place on the market.Dive InsightBeOne is now well established as a commercial drugmaker, recording total sales of $2.4 billion through the first six months of the year from drugs it developed as well as some of Amgens products in China. However, it also has significant expenses, burning about $2 billion over the same time about half on research and development of its own drugs like Brukinsa and sonrotoclax.That profit picture for the first half looks like it will be sustained for the full year, as BeOnes executives forecast positive operating income and cash flow even before this deal was announced. The deal will only build on that momentum, executives said Monday.A strong balance sheet is a hallmark of the most successful companies in our industry, and this transaction provides increased operational and strategic flexibility as we continue to execute our business strategy for the long term, said CFO Aaron Rosenberg, in a statement.A so-called bispecific antibody, Imdelltra triggers an immune response to cells expressing a protein called DLL-3, common among tumor cells in small cell cancer, a hard-to-treat disease that until recently has had few innovative treatments. While Merck & Co.s immunotherapy Keytruda and Bristol Myers Squibbs Opdivo have gained approval for small cell lung cancer, they were withdrawn when confirmatory data didnt support their use. Roches Tecentriq can be used in certain patients, however.Imdelltra is reshaping the treatment paradigm for patients with small cell lung cancer, a highly aggressive disease with few treatment options, said Pablo Legorreta, Royaltys CEO, in a statement. Todays transaction is consistent with our strategy of acquiring royalties on highly transformative products in life sciences.Royalty Pharma has been active in buying revenue streams recently, striking deals with Biogen, Cytokinetics, Sanofi and Agios. '

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cytokinetics, Incorporated (Nasdaq: CYTK) today announced the appointment of James M. Daly to its Board of Directors effective August 19, 2025. Mr. Daly brings over 30 years of global biopharmaceutical leadership experience with particular expertise in commercialization to the Company’s Board of Directors. “Jim has longstanding expertise leading commercial launches of innovative therapies, coupled with extensive Board experience guiding later-stage, global biopharma companies,” said Robert I. Blum, Cytokinetics’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to welcome him to our Board and look forward to his contributions and oversight as our company advances toward becoming a fully integrated commercial organization.” Most recently, Mr. Daly served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Incyte Corporation where he led the launch of Jakafi® (ruxolitinib) and oversaw development of the company’s global commercial capabilities. Previously, he spent 10 years at Amgen where he held multiple senior leadership positions, including Senior Vice President of North America Commercial Operations, and launched several successful medicines including Neulasta®, Xgeva®, Nplate® and Vectibix®. He began his career at GlaxoSmithKline, serving in escalating positions of seniority over his 16-year tenure with the company. He earned a B.S. in Pharmacy and an M.B.A. from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Mr. Daly currently serves on the Boards of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, argenx SE, and Acadia Pharmaceuticals. About Cytokinetics Cytokinetics is a specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company, building on its over 25 years of pioneering scientific innovations in muscle biology to advance a pipeline of potential new medicines for patients suffering from diseases of cardiac muscle dysfunction. Cytokinetics is readying for potential regulatory approvals and commercialization of aficamten, a cardiac myosin inhibitor following positive results from SEQUOIA-HCM, the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Aficamten is also being evaluated in additional clinical trials enrolling patients with obstructive and non-obstructive HCM. Cytokinetics is also developing omecamtiv mecarbil, a cardiac myosin activator, in patients with heart failure with severely reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), ulacamten, a cardiac myosin inhibitor with a mechanism of action distinct from aficamten, for the potential treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and CK-089, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator with potential therapeutic application to a specific type of muscular dystrophy and other conditions of impaired skeletal muscle function. For additional information about Cytokinetics, visit www.cytokinetics.com and follow us on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”). Cytokinetics disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements and claims the protection of the Act’s Safe Harbor for forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Cytokinetics’ and its partners’ research and development activities of Cytokinetics’ product candidates. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to the risks related to Cytokinetics’ business outlines in Cytokinetics’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and Cytokinetics’ actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any forward-looking statements that Cytokinetics makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Cytokinetics assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. CYTOKINETICS® and the CYTOKINETICS and C-shaped logo are registered trademarks of Cytokinetics in the U.S. and certain other countries. Contact:Cytokinetics Diane WeiserSenior Vice President, Corporate Affairs(415) 290-7757

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals\' Visirna Therapeutics unit is in line for up to $265 million in milestones from Sanofi.\n Sanofi is handing over $130 million upfront for the China rights to Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ rare metabolic disease treatment that is currently being considered for approval by Chinese regulators.The RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic, called plozasiran, already aced a phase 3 trial last year, which tied 25-mg and 50-mg doses of the drug to 80% and 78% reductions, respectively, in triglycerides at 10 months for patients with familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS).Since then, Arrowhead’s China-focused subsidiary Visirna Therapeutics has submitted an approval request to Chinese regulators.Now, Sanofi wants in—paying Visirna $130 million upfront with the potential for $265 million in milestones to follow should plozasiran score Chinese approvals in FCS and various other indications. For its part, Arrowhead will be in line for royalties on sales from the greater China region as part of its licensing arrangement with Visirna.Plozasiran is designed to lower the production of apolipoprotein C-III (APOC3), a part of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and a regulator of triglyceride metabolism. Treatment with the drug aims to reduce APOC3 levels, therefore reducing triglycerides and restoring lipids to normal levels.In the U.S., Arrowhead had already been beaten in a tight race to market by Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ antisense candidate Tryngolza, which secured FDA approval in FCS at the end of 2024. However, Ionis has yet to push for approval in China.“When we founded Visirna in 2022, we believed that Greater China represented an important potential future market for multiple programs in Arrowhead’s pipeline of investigational RNAi-based candidates for cardiometabolic diseases,” Arrowhead CEO Christopher Anzalone, Ph.D., said in an Aug. 1 release. “The team at Visirna understand the intricacies of China’s clinical, regulatory, and commercial environment and have done impressive work moving plozasiran through clinical studies and into the regulatory submission and review process,” Anzalone added. “We now look forward to working with Sanofi and believe they are extremely well-positioned as a global company with a strong presence in China.”Sanofi ended last year scooping up the China rights to Cytokinetics’ hypertrophic cardiomyopathy drug aficamten, which is still awaiting a decision by Chinese regulators. That deal followed a move by the French pharma to establish a $1 billion manufacturing site in the country, marking the company’s largest investment in China to date.Wayne Shi, president of Sanofi Greater China, put this morning’s deal in the context of the company’s “strong presence in China’s cardiometabolic field.”“We are pleased to have concluded this agreement to enable us to advance plozasiran in greater China where Sanofi has deep roots and a proud heritage of serving people living with a wide range of diseases,” Shi said.“Plozasiran has shown considerable potential in studies across diverse patient populations where serious illness is caused by elevated triglycerides,” he added.