A Characterization of the Nonclinical Pharmacology and Toxicology of Aficamten, a Reversible Allosteric Inhibitor of Cardiac Myosin

Aficamten (CK-3773274) is a cardiac myosin inhibitor in development for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a commonly inherited heart condition often characterized as a disease of the sarcomere. Aficamten reduces pathologic cardiac hypercontractility by selectively binding to an allosteric site on cardiac myosin. To characterize the pharmacology and toxicology of aficamten, a series of nonclinical repeated dose studies were conducted. In a 10-day repeated dose pharmacology study in Sprague Dawley rats, aficamten produced dose-dependent reductions in left ventricular fractional shortening (FS) which were fully reversible within 24 h. Aficamten did not change the ratio of heart weight to tibia length (HW/TL) or left ventricular posterior wall (LVPW) thickness at any dose tested. At a supratherapeutic dose of 6 mg/kg/day, there was a significant increase in interventricular septum (IVS) thickness. Aficamten did not affect mRNA expression of the cardiac injury biomarkers BNP, β-MHC, or ANP. In repeated dose Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulatory toxicology studies in Sprague Dawley rats for up to 6 months and beagle dogs for up to 9 months, the primary adverse findings at supratherapeutic doses were consistent across all studies and observed in the heart consisting of atrial/ventricular dilatation that correlated with increased heart weights. These findings were largely reversible and consistent with excessive on-target pharmacology associated with cardiac myosin inhibition. The reversible nature of aficamten-associated adverse effects is supportive of its clinical safety as this property suggests that these findings, should they occur in humans, may also be reversible, limiting long-term human cardiac risk.