Leaving cancer behind

Faced with a decision about how best to utilize its platform technology targeting the cytoskeleton, Cytokinetics Inc. initially chose cancer as the path of least resistance for attracting investors and partners. Ten years later and without a breakout success in oncology, the company last week said it will restructure and refocus on muscle biology, an area that has received an increasing amount of in-house investment and produced one clinical candidate, with more close behind.

Cytokinetics was founded in 1997 based on the idea of targeting specific motor proteins involved in the cytoskeleton that play crucial roles in cellular processes as varied as intracellular transport, cell division and motility; signal transduction; and the establishment and regulation of cell polarity...