(Bloomberg) -- Cytokinetics Inc.’s experimental heart failure drug got a negative vote from a panel of expert advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration. But, in a twist, shares rose.

The stock gained 8% on Wednesday, the most since early August, in the wake of the experts’ vote. The advisory panel voted by a margin of 8-3 to not support the biopharmaceutical company’s investigational heart failure therapy called omecamtiv mecarbil, and analysts said the result increases the likelihood the drug will not be approved.

“Even though the negative vote against [omecamtiv mecarbil] that suggests a less likely approval, we found this to be positive since investors consider aficamten as the key value driver,” Piper Sandler analyst Yasmeen Rahimi writes, referring to Cytokinetics’s other drug candidate. The prospect of the company not having funds tied up in commercialization efforts for omecamtiv mecarbil means it can prioritize resources for aficamten, the analyst said.

Analysts are unanimously bullish on the company’s prospects, with more than a dozen holding buy-equivalent ratings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

The FDA often follows the advice of advisory panels, though the regulator isn’t bound by it. An FDA decision on the new drug application for omecamtiv mecarbil is expected by the target action date of Feb. 28.

“We remain enthusiastic about our science and the promise of aficamten and expect the majority of our Development spending to be focused on that high priority program in 2023,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Blum said in a statement. “Our commercial build over the past year lays the groundwork for the future potential commercialization of aficamten, regardless of whether or not omecamtiv mecarbil is approved.”

--With assistance from Fiona Rutherford.

(Updates to add closing levels and new chart.)

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