Total of $100,000 Awarded to Five Patient Advocacy Organizations to Support Communications and Community Outreach
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cytokinetics, Incorporated (Nasdaq: CYTK) today announced the recipients of its seventh annual Communications Grant Program, intended to support increased communications, awareness building and community engagement.
Five grants in the amount of $20,000 each were awarded this year to patient advocacy organizations serving the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and heart failure communities. The grants will support these organizations in expanding their reach, awareness and community engagement by providing resources for new or crucial communications, marketing or outreach initiatives that would otherwise be challenging to implement.
“We are pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Cytokinetics Communications Grant Program, each of whom has demonstrated creativity and vision in addressing communication challenges to expand awareness and engagement in the HCM and heart failure patient communities they serve,” said Mary Pomerantz, Cytokinetics’ Senior Director of Patient Advocacy and Engagement. “Together, these grants will play a pivotal role in advancing initiatives to increase diagnosis of cardiovascular conditions, educate patients and their families about available resources and provide comprehensive support to improve overall health and well-being.”
The recipients of the 2025 Cytokinetics Communications Grants include:
AICARM APS (Italian Association of Cardiomyopathies): AICARM APS is an Italian non-profit organization composed of volunteers, patients, doctors and nurses that provides support to patients with cardiomyopathy and their families, promotes training and the dissemination of scientific information and supports scientific research of cardiomyopathies. With the grant, AICARM APS will produce a series of five videos to be featured on their website, highlighting essential topics such as updated guidelines for managing cardiomyopathies, the importance of genetic testing and family screening and advancements in new disease-specific therapies. The grant will also support the development of QualyHCM, a questionnaire for patients and physicians, developed by patients and physicians, to assess the quality of life of patients with HCM.
HeartBrothers Foundation: The HeartBrothers Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping patients with heart failure and their families navigate the complex journey of heart failure, mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation. HeartBrothers will use the grant to grow digital and in-person partnerships with regional heart failure hospitals in New England, refine advertising and communication segmentations and develop content.
HeartCharged Corporation: HeartCharged Corporation is a charitable organization with global reach whose mission is ending preventable deaths from sudden cardiac arrest and undiagnosed heart conditions and providing patient-to-patient support. HeartCharged will use this grant to create a short form dramatized film centered around the life choices of a young person living with HCM, serving as a discussion starter on the social and mental health challenges faced by young patients. In addition to producing the film, the grant will support accompanying promotional materials and educational resources.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association: The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA) is a non-profit organization that provides support, advocacy and education to patients, families, the medical community and the public about HCM while also supporting the research and development of potential HCM treatments. With this grant, HCMA will develop a short film about the patient journey in HCM, touching on the difficulties of diagnosis to the everyday challenges of living with HCM. The grant will also support the distribution, publicity and partnership planning around the film.
Stichting Cardiomyopathie Onderzoek Nederland (Foundation Cardiomyopathy Research the Netherlands): Stichting Cardiomyopathie Onderzoek Nederland is a non-profit foundation that collaborates with research institutes, hospitals and other organizations and stakeholders involved in scientific research in the field of congenital and genetic heart disease. With the funding, Stichting Cardiomyopathie Onderzoek Nederland will conduct qualitative research through individual interviews and focus groups to inform communication and education strategies to improve engagement with patients and healthcare professionals.
About the Cytokinetics Communications Grant Program
For the past seven years, the Cytokinetics Communications Grant Program has supported patient advocacy organizations to help expand their reach, awareness and community engagement by providing resources for new or crucial communications, marketing or outreach initiatives that would otherwise be challenging to implement. Cytokinetics has no oversight, involvement or management of the actual projects, programs or outputs. The goal of the Communications Grant Program is to assist patient advocacy organizations by increasing resources in order to better support patient communities and bring increased disease awareness in the communities they serve. The call for proposals for the 2026 Communications Grant Program will be announced during Fall 2025.
About Cytokinetics
Cytokinetics is a late-stage, muscle biology specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing muscle biology-directed drug candidates as potential treatments for debilitating diseases in which muscle performance is compromised. As a leader in muscle biology and the mechanics of muscle performance, Cytokinetics is intent on meaningfully improving the lives of patients through global access to innovative medicines. Cytokinetics is readying for potential regulatory approvals and commercialization of aficamten, a potential next-in-class cardiac myosin inhibitor following positive results from SEQUOIA-HCM, the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Aficamten is also being evaluated in additional clinical trials enrolling patients with obstructive and non-obstructive HCM. Cytokinetics is also developing omecamtiv mecarbil, a cardiac myosin activator, in patients with heart failure with severely reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), CK-586, a cardiac myosin inhibitor with a mechanism of action distinct from aficamten, for the potential treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and CK-089, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator with potential therapeutic application to a specific type of muscular dystrophy and other conditions of impaired skeletal muscle function.
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