The most frequent cause of HCM is mutations in the heart muscle proteins of the sarcomere. In approximately two-thirds of HCM patients, the path followed by blood exiting the heart, known as the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT), becomes obstructed by the enlarged and diseased muscle, restricting the flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the body (obstructive HCM). In other patients, the thickened heart muscle does not block the LVOT, and their disease is driven by diastolic impairment due to the enlarged and stiffened heart muscle (non-obstructive HCM). In either obstructive or non-obstructive HCM patients, exertion can result in fatigue or shortness of breath, interfering with a patient’s ability to participate in activities of daily living. HCM has also been associated with increased risks of atrial fibrillation, stroke, heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
There are currently approximately 160,000 to 200,000 people diagnosed with symptomatic obstructive HCM across the U.S. and EU, with no existing effective treatment options beyond limited symptomatic relief. Patients are typically diagnosed in their 40s or 50s and the treatment is expected to be chronic. It is estimated that only approximately 25 percent of individuals with obstructive HCM and only approximately 10 percent of individuals with non-obstructive HCM have received a diagnosis.
Conference Call
At 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time / 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time today, Bristol Myers Squibb will host a conference call and a simultaneous webcast to discuss the transaction. A live webcast of the call can be accessed at Bristol Myers Squibb’s Investors page at bms.com/investors. Please connect to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to allow adequate time for any software download that may be required. Alternatively, please call (877) 658-9096 (U.S.) or (602) 563-8733 (international) and dial the conference ID 9697843 to access the call.
Telephone replay will be available approximately three hours after the call until 11:30 a.m. ET on October 19, 2020. To access the replay, please call (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) or (404) 537-3406 (international) and dial the conference ID 9697843. The webcast will be archived on bms.com/investors.
Advisors
Gordon Dyal & Co., LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Bristol Myers Squibb, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel. Centerview Partners LLC and Guggenheim Securities are acting as joint financial advisors to MyoKardia and Goodwin Procter LLP is serving as legal counsel.
About Bristol Myers Squibb
Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
About MyoKardia
MyoKardia is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing targeted therapies for the treatment of serious cardiovascular diseases. The company is pioneering a precision medicine approach to its discovery and development efforts by 1) understanding the biomechanical underpinnings of disease; 2) targeting the proteins that modulate a given condition; 3) identifying patient populations with shared disease characteristics; and 4) applying learnings from research and clinical studies to inform and guide pipeline growth and product advancement. MyoKardia’s initial focus is on small molecule therapeutics aimed at the proteins of the heart that modulate cardiac muscle contraction to address diseases driven by excessive contraction, impaired relaxation, or insufficient contraction. Among its discoveries are three clinical-stage therapeutics: mavacamten (formerly MYK-461); danicamtiv (formerly MYK-491) and MYK-224.
MyoKardia’s mission is to change the world for people with serious cardiovascular disease through bold and innovative science.