Cytokinetics ALS drug wins 'orphan' status in Europe

European regulators granted “orphan” status to a potential treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease developed by South San Francisco’s Cytokinetics Inc.
The drug, known as CK-2017357, is in a Phase II program for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a muscle-wasting and eventually fatal disease that affects 5,600 new people a year in the United States.