Breakthrough therapy designation for Mavacamten, new medication for HOCM

HOCM stands for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. It is a genetic disease of the heart muscle in which the heart muscle becomes unduly thickened and causes obstruction to outflow of blood from the left ventricle. Left ventricle is the lower left chamber of the heart which pumps blood to the whole body. So far HOCM was being treated with medications like beta blockers, some types of calcium channel blockers and disopyramide. These drugs reduce the force of contraction of the left ventricle. Mavacamten is a first-in-class drug which inhibits cardiac myosin, a protein required for heart muscle contraction.