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Cytokinetics Awards Inaugural Communications Fellowship To The ALS Association Golden West Chapter
Globe Newswire 28-Aug-2018 8:30 AM
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cytokinetics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:CYTK) today announced that The ALS Association Golden West Chapter is the inaugural recipient of the Cytokinetics Communications Fellowship, an annual grant from the company intended to support increased capacity and community engagement for nonprofit organizations.
"As a longstanding partner of the disease and patient advocacy community, we recognized a need for organizations to expand the scope of their communications to support families with rare diseases of muscle dysfunction and we sought an opportunity to close that gap," said Diane Weiser, Cytokinetics' Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. "By providing this Fellowship, our partners will now have funding to invest in additional communications resources to educate their communities about their disease and organization, provide additional support and services, and create connections among patients, caregivers and advocacy resources."
"We are extremely grateful to Cytokinetics and honored to receive this unique grant," said Fred Fisher, MSW, President and CEO of The ALS Association Golden West Chapter. "There are more people than ever who are registering with the Golden West Chapter, and the demand for the services and support that we offer grows larger every month. The Fellowship provides critically-needed funding to help us invest in communications resources to support people with ALS and their loved ones, and to create deeper connections between The ALS community and the Chapter."
The Fellowship program will be awarded annually to nonprofit organizations to provide funding support to elevate the patient's voice at the grassroots level, build greater awareness of programs and care services, and extend their outreach in the communities they serve. Organizations applying for the grant are required to submit a detailed proposal for activities and services to be fulfilled and recipients are responsible for providing an outcomes report to Cytokinetics to measure impact at the end of the funding period.
About ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts approximately 30,000 people in the United States and a comparable number of patients in Europe. Approximately 6,000 new cases of ALS are diagnosed each year in the United States. The average life expectancy of an ALS patient is approximately three to five years after diagnosis and only 10 percent of patients survive for more than 10 years. Death is usually due to respiratory failure because of diminished strength in the skeletal muscles responsible for breathing. Few treatment options exist for these patients, resulting in a high unmet need for new therapies to address functional deficits and disease progression. For more information about ALS and The ALS Association Golden West Chapter, please visit www.alsagoldenwest.org
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 reldesemtiv (CK-2127107), a next-generation fast skeletal muscle troponin activator (FSTA). Reldesemtiv has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for the potential treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. Reldesemtiv was the subject of a positive Phase 2 clinical study in patients with spinal muscular atrophy which showed increases in measures of endurance and stamina consistent with the mechanism of action. Reldesemtiv is currently the subject of two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Astellas is also conducting a Phase 1b clinical trial of reldesemtiv in elderly adults with limited mobility. Astellas holds an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize reldesemtiv. 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 additional information about Cytokinetics, 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 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 outlined 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.
