Cytokinetics announces start of MAPLE-HCM

Cytokinetics announced that MAPLE-HCM, a Phase 3 clinical trial comparing aficamten as monotherapy to metoprolol as monotherapy in patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, HCM, is open to enrollment. Aficamten is a next-in-class cardiac myosin inhibitor in development for the potential treatment of HCM. “We are pleased to further expand the development program for aficamten with the start of MAPLE-HCM, a Phase 3 trial assessing for the potential superiority of aficamten compared to a commonly prescribed beta blocker, metoprolol,” said Fady I. Malik, M.D., Ph.D., Cytokinetics’ Executive Vice President of Research & Development. “MAPLE-HCM is, to date, the first and only clinical trial directly comparing a cardiac myosin inhibitor to what is considered the standard of care therapy in patients with HCM. While beta-blockers like metoprolol can reduce the left ventricular outflow tract gradient and improve patient symptoms, they are often associated with undesirable side effects and have not been shown to improve exercise capacity, a desired treatment outcome for patients suffering from HCM. We hope that MAPLE-HCM will generate evidence showing treatment with aficamten as first-line monotherapy is superior to monotherapy with metoprolol, which may help offer a simplified treatment approach in HCM.”