Cytokinetics upgraded to Buy at Goldman on odds of ACACIA succeeding

As previously reported, Goldman Sachs upgraded Cytokinetics (CYTK) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $95, up from $55. The firm views shares as poised to outperform the group given a series of near- to intermediate-term catalysts, arguing that the emerging data cuts from ODYSSEY-HCM increasingly support a view that Bristol Myers’ (BMY) trial missed primarily due to drug exposure and study execution issues rather than mechanistic issues with cardiac myosin inhibition. The firm thinks that Cytokinetics has likely addressed these issues with ACACIA-HCM and should that study achieve statistical significance, as Goldman expects it will, it sees aficamten as potentially the only agent approved for two indications and likely to attain more favorable formulary positioning with label expansion.