The company unveiled Phase 3 MAPLE-HCM results showing aficamten outperformed metoprolol in obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with findings published across top medical journals.
Retail chatter around Cytokinetics surged late Monday as the company’s shares jumped 34% in Europe after new data from its MAPLE-HCM study were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2025 in Madrid.
Cytokinetics’ shares closed at €39.8 on Monday in Europe, up €10, or 33.6% from the prior session.
The company stated that its experimental drug, aficamten, improved exercise capacity in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, whereas treatment with the current standard of care, metoprolol, reduced it.
The primary results were also published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
MAPLE-HCM is a Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, active-comparator trial that enrolled 175 patients, who were assigned one-to-one to receive either aficamten or metoprolol as monotherapy.
Cytokinetics said the trial was designed differently from its pivotal SEQUOIA-HCM study, enrolling patients with less severe disease, including those without obstruction at rest and with higher predicted peak oxygen uptake.
Fady I. Malik, executive vice president of research and development, said the clinical difference between the two treatments was reinforced by secondary endpoints on symptoms, functional class and left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradients, and that the benefits were seen in a broader patient population than in SEQUOIA-HCM.
Cytokinetics also presented additional data from MAPLE-HCM at the ESC Congress, including a pre-specified analysis of aficamten’s effect on cardiac structure and function, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
A late-breaking clinical science presentation on the incidence and impact of atrial fibrillation associated with aficamten was simultaneously published in Heart Rhythm.
“The additional data presented at the ESC Congress 2025 continue to strengthen the evidence base supporting the overall safety profile of aficamten, including as has been observed with a real-world dosing strategy,” Malik said.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Cytokinetics was ‘extremely bullish’ amid a 150% surge in 24-hour message volume.
One user stated that Cytokinetics appeared to be a clear buyout candidate, citing its head-to-head superiority over the standard-of-care metoprolol.
Another user noted that while Cytokinetics had strong data, it would still require significant funding, partnerships, and guideline updates before its drug could replace beta blockers, although they expected the stock to trade higher next week.
Cytokinetics’ stock has declined 25% so far in 2025.
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