Roth Capital Remains Confident on 2016 Thesis for Cytokinetics (CYTK) Following Recent Mgmt Meetings

Roth Capital reaffirms Cytokinetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYTK) with a Buy rating and $22 price target after the company outlined Vision 2020: Empowering Our Future, a strategic initiative designed to deepen and expand its pipeline over the next five years as well as advance a portfolio of muscle-biology directed drug candidates toward late-stage development and commercialization to address urgent unmet needs of people living with conditions characterized by impaired muscle function, which was offered last week.

Analyst Joseph Pantginis commented: While CYTK has experienced volatility along with the rest of the biotechnology sector, we believe the shares are only just starting to receive deserved credit for 1) omecamtiv mecarbil, partnered with Amgen, 2) CK-107 partnered with Astellas, and 3) tirasemtiv for ALS, which is currently in Phase III and was the first drug to show a benefit on breathing capacity. We believe the next important catalyst for the company will be the official announcement of moving omecamtiv into Phase III under the auspices of the Amgen/Cytokinetics Joint Development Committee. While nothing is certain (costs, market dynamic, competition, risk, ROI), we believe it is highly likely that omecamtiv will enter a Phase III study for heart failure in 2H16. We believe the strong data from COSMIC-HF support this decision as well as definitive KOL feedback that omecamtiv is "doing something different" as well as the drug having "the most fascinating mechanism of action ever developed for heart failure". Amgen mentions "compelling" data in its investor presentations and all KOL feedback presents the case to move forward. The next step is to conduct an end-of-Phase II (EOP2) meeting with the FDA in 1Q16 to define the potential pivotal path forward.

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