Cytokinetics Names Robert Califf, M.D., to Board of Directors
February 12 2018 - 7:30AM
Cytokinetics, Incorporated (Nasdaq:CYTK) today announced that
Robert Califf, M.D., has been appointed to the company’s Board of
Directors. Dr. Califf is the Vice Chancellor for Health Data
Science at Duke Health and Director of the Duke University Center
for Health Data Science. He is also serving as an advisor to the
senior management team at Verily Life Sciences, a subsidiary of
Alphabet, Inc. (parent company to Google) and was appointed an
adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford University. In these
positions, Dr. Califf is harnessing the power of advanced computing
and information sciences to foster collaborations and the
development of new technologies to improve human health care.
Dr. Califf joins the Cytokinetics Board of
Directors with extensive international experience in cardiovascular
medicine, health care outcomes research, health care quality, and
clinical research. Dr. Califf served as Commissioner of the United
States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between February 2016 and
January 2017, and as Deputy Commissioner of the FDA’s Office of
Medical Products and Tobacco from January 2015 until his
appointment as FDA Commissioner.
“It’s our pleasure to welcome Rob to our Board,”
said Robert I. Blum, Cytokinetics’ President and Chief Executive
Officer. “As a renowned leader in cardiovascular medicine having
overseen the conduct of landmark clinical trials, his expertise
will be especially valuable as we continue to advance omecamtiv
mecarbil in our Phase 3 clinical trials program in collaboration
with Amgen and as we further the development of our muscle
biology-directed drug candidates and execute on our Vision 2020
across cardiovascular and other therapeutic areas to improve
healthspan as the population ages.”
Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Califf was
Professor of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Clinical and
Translational Research at Duke University. He also served as
Director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute and founding
Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Dr. Califf has
been involved in dozens of landmark clinical trials and he has been
recognized as one of the top ten most-cited medical authors with
more than 1,200 peer-reviewed publications.
Dr. Califf is a member of the National Academy
of Medicine (NAM) and has served on various committees for the NAM.
He has also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the
National Library of Medicine, as well as on advisory committees for
the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
and the Council of the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Califf held
leadership positions and board appointments for biopharmaceutical
companies including Portola Pharmaceuticals, Proventus and Nitrox,
LLC. Dr. Califf received his medical degree from the Duke
University School of Medicine in Durham, NC and completed his
residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San
Francisco and a fellowship in cardiology at Duke University.
About Cytokinetics
Cytokinetics is a late-stage biopharmaceutical
company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing
first-in-class muscle activators 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 increase 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 GALACTIC-HF, an
international Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with heart
failure. 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 collaborating with Astellas Pharma Inc.
(“Astellas”) to develop CK-2127107, a next-generation FSTA.
CK-2127107 has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for
the potential treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA.)
CK-2127107 is the subject of three ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials
enrolling patients with SMA, COPD and ALS. Astellas is also
conducting a Phase 1b clinical trial of CK-2127107 in elderly
adults with limited mobility. Astellas holds an exclusive worldwide
license to develop and commercialize CK-2127107. Licenses held by
Amgen and Astellas are subject to Cytokinetics' specified
co-development and co-commercialization rights. Cytokinetics
continues its 20-year history of innovation with three new muscle
biology directed compounds advancing from research to development
in 2018. For information about Cytokinetics, please visit
www.cytokinetics.com.
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; the design, timing, results,
significance and utility of preclinical and clinical results,
including Cytokinetics’ expectations regarding the timing or
results from its clinical trials of CK-2127107, enrollment of
patients in GALACTIC-HF and pipeline expansion in 2018; and the
properties and potential benefits of CK-2127107 and Cytokinetics’
other drug 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, potential difficulties or delays in the
development, testing, regulatory approvals for trial commencement,
progression or product sale or manufacturing, or production of
Cytokinetics’ drug candidates that could slow or prevent clinical
development or product approval, including risks that current and
past results of clinical trials or preclinical studies may not be
indicative of future clinical trial results, patient enrollment for
or conduct of clinical trials may be difficult or delayed,
Cytokinetics’ drug candidates may have adverse side effects or
inadequate therapeutic efficacy, the FDA or foreign regulatory
agencies may delay or limit Cytokinetics’ or its partners’ ability
to conduct clinical trials, and Cytokinetics may be unable to
obtain or maintain patent or trade secret protection for its
intellectual property; Astellas’ decisions with respect to the
design, initiation, conduct, timing and continuation of development
activities for CK-2127107; Amgen’s decisions with respect to the
design, initiation, conduct, timing and continuation of development
activities for omecamtiv mecarbil; Cytokinetics may incur
unanticipated research and development and other costs or be unable
to obtain additional financing necessary to conduct development of
its products; standards of care may change, rendering Cytokinetics’
drug candidates obsolete; competitive products or alternative
therapies may be developed by others for the treatment of
indications Cytokinetics’ drug candidates and potential drug
candidates may target; and risks and uncertainties relating to the
timing and receipt of payments from its partners, including
milestones and royalties on future potential product sales under
Cytokinetics’ collaboration agreements with such partners. For
further information regarding these and other risks related to
Cytokinetics’ business, investors should consult Cytokinetics’
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:CytokineticsDiane
WeiserVice President, Corporate Communications, Investor
Relations(415) 290-7757
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