UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

FORM S-3

CYTOKINETICS, INCORPORATED

280 East Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 624-3000
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cytokinetics, Incorporated
280 East Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(650) 624-3000
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:
Michael O’Donnell, Esq.
Martin Waters, Esq.
Gavin McCraley, Esq.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Professional Corporation
650 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 493-9300

     Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

     If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box. o

     If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box. þ

     If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o

     If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o

     If delivery of the prospectus is expected to be made pursuant to Rule 434, please check the following box. o

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

     The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission acting pursuant to said Section 8(a) may determine.

PROSPECTUS

The Information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED JUNE 14, 2005

$100,000,000

Cytokinetics, Incorporated

COMMON STOCK
PREFERRED STOCK
WARRANTS

     From time to time, we may sell any of the securities listed above. All of the securities listed above may be sold separately or as units with other securities. We will specify in an accompanying prospectus supplement the terms of any offering. Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the trading symbol “CYTK.” On June 13, 2005 the last reported sale price of our common stock on the Nasdaq National Market was $5.18 per share.

     You should read this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement carefully before you invest. This prospectus may not be used to offer or sell any securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.

     Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the Risk Factors beginning on page 2 of this prospectus before you make an investment decision.

     The securities offered by this prospectus may be offered in amounts, at prices and at terms determined at the time of the offering and may be sold directly by us to investors, through agents designated from time to time or to or through underwriters or dealers. We will set forth the names of any underwriters or agents in the accompanying prospectus supplement. For additional information on the methods of sale, you should refer to the section entitled “Plan of Distribution.” The net proceeds we expect to receive from such sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement.

     Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The date of this prospectus is      , 200

TABLE OF CONTENTS

     No person has been authorized to give any information or make any representations in connection with this offering other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement in connection with the offering described herein and therein, and, if given or made, such information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by us. Neither this prospectus nor any prospectus supplement shall constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy offered securities in any jurisdiction in which it is unlawful for such person to make such an offering or solicitation. Neither the delivery of this prospectus or any prospectus supplement nor any sale made hereunder shall under any circumstances imply that the information contained or incorporated by reference herein or in any prospectus supplement is correct as of any date subsequent to the date hereof or of such prospectus supplement.

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RISK FACTORS

     An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. You should also refer to the other information in this prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes incorporated by reference into this prospectus. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only risks and uncertainties we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, results of operations and financial condition could suffer. In that event, the trading price of the securities being offered by this prospectus could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment in such securities. The risks discussed below also include forward-looking statements and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our initial drug candidates are in the early stages of clinical testing and we have a history of significant losses and may not achieve or sustain profitability and, as a result, you may lose all or part of your investment.

     Our initial drug candidates are in the early stages of clinical testing and we must conduct significant additional clinical trials before we can seek the regulatory approvals necessary to begin commercial sales of our drugs. We have incurred operating losses in each year since our inception in 1997 due to costs incurred in connection with our research and development activities and general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect to incur increasing losses for at least several years, as we continue our research activities and conduct development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our initial drug candidates, and commercialize any approved drugs. If our initial drug candidates fail in clinical trials or do not gain regulatory approval, or if our drugs do not achieve market acceptance, we will not be profitable. If we fail to become and remain profitable, or if we are unable to fund our continuing losses, you could lose all or part of your investment.

We have never generated, and may never generate, revenues from commercial sales of our drugs and we may not have drugs to market for at least several years, if ever.

     We currently have no drugs for sale and we cannot guarantee that we will ever have marketable drugs. We must demonstrate that our drug candidates satisfy rigorous standards of safety and efficacy to the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and other regulatory authorities in the United States and abroad. We and our partners will need to conduct significant additional research, preclinical testing and clinical testing, before we or our partners can file applications with the FDA or other regulatory authorities for approval of our drug candidates. In addition, to compete effectively, our drugs must be easy to use, cost-effective and economical to manufacture on a commercial scale. We may not achieve any of these objectives. Ispinesib, our most advanced drug candidate for the treatment of cancer, and SB-743921, our second drug candidate for the treatment of cancer, are currently our only drug candidates in clinical trials and we cannot be certain that the clinical development of these or any other drug candidate in preclinical testing or clinical development will be successful, that they will receive the regulatory approvals required to commercialize them, or that any of our other research programs will yield a drug candidate suitable for entry into clinical trials. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of drugs that we do not expect to be commercially available for several years, if at all. The development of one or both of these drug candidates may be discontinued at any stage of our clinical trials programs and we may not generate revenue from either of these drug candidates.

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     We have funded all of our operations and capital expenditures with proceeds from both private and public sales of our equity securities, strategic alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, AstraZeneca and others, equipment financings, interest on investments and government grants. To meet our future cash requirements, we may raise funds through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or strategic alliances. To the extent that we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience additional dilution. To the extent that we raise additional funds through debt financing, if available, such financing may involve covenants that restrict our business activities. To the extent that we raise additional funds through strategic alliance and licensing arrangements, we will likely have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, research programs or drug candidates, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. In addition, we cannot assure you that any such funding, if needed, will be available on attractive terms, or at all.

Clinical trials may fail to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates, which could prevent or significantly delay completion of clinical development and regulatory approval.

     Prior to receiving approval to commercialize any of our drug candidates, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and abroad, that such drug candidate is both safe and effective. Before we can commence clinical trials, we must demonstrate through preclinical studies satisfactory product chemistry, formulation, stability and toxicity levels in order to file an investigational new drug application, or IND, (or the foreign equivalent of an IND) to commence clinical trials. In clinical trials we will need to demonstrate efficacy for the treatment of specific indications and monitor safety throughout the clinical development process. Long-term safety and efficacy have not yet been demonstrated in clinical trials for any of our drug candidates, and satisfactory chemistry, formulation, stability and toxicity levels have not yet been demonstrated for our drug candidates or compounds that are currently the subject of preclinical studies. If our preclinical studies, clinical trials or future clinical trials are unsuccessful, our business and reputation would be harmed and our stock price would be negatively affected.

     All of our drug candidates are prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. Preclinical studies may not yield results that would satisfactorily support the filing of an IND or comparable regulatory filing abroad with respect to our drug candidates, and, even if these applications would be or have been filed with respect to our drug candidates, the results of preclinical studies do not necessarily predict the results of clinical trials. Similarly, early-stage clinical trials do not predict the results of later-stage clinical trials, including the safety and efficacy profiles of any particular drug candidate. In addition, there can be no assurance that the design of our clinical trials is focused on appropriate tumor types, patient populations, dosing regimens or other variables which will result in obtaining the desired efficacy data to support regulatory approval to commercialize the drug. Even if we believe the data collected from clinical trials of our drug candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or any other United States or foreign regulatory authority. Preclinical and clinical data can be interpreted in different ways. Accordingly, FDA officials, or officials from foreign regulatory authorities, could interpret the data in different ways than we or our partners do, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval.

     Administering any of our drug candidates or potential drug candidates that are the subject of preclinical studies to animals may produce undesirable side effects, also known as adverse effects. Toxicities and adverse effects that we have observed in preclinical studies for some compounds in a particular research program may recur in preclinical studies of other compounds from the same program. Such toxicities or adverse effects could delay or prevent the filing of an IND or comparable regulatory filing abroad with respect to such drug candidates or potential drug candidates. In Phase I clinical trials of ispinesib, the dose limiting toxicity was neutropenia, a decrease in the number of a certain type of white blood cell that results in an increase in susceptibility to infection. In clinical trials, administering any of our drug candidates to

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humans may produce adverse effects. These adverse effects could interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of our drug candidates and could result in the FDA or other regulatory authorities denying approval of our drug candidates for any or all targeted indications. The FDA, other regulatory authorities, our partners or we may suspend or terminate clinical trials at any time. Even if one or more of our drug candidates were approved for sale, the occurrence of even a limited number of toxicities or adverse effects when used in large populations may cause the FDA to impose restrictions on, or prevent, the further marketing of such drugs. Indications of potential adverse effects or toxicities which may occur in clinical trials and which we believe are not significant during the course of such trials may later turn out to actually constitute serious adverse effects or toxicities when a drug has been used in large populations or for extended periods of time. Any failure or significant delay in completing preclinical studies or clinical trials for our drug candidates, or in receiving and maintaining regulatory approval for the sale of any drugs resulting from our drug candidates, may severely harm our reputation and business.

Clinical trials are expensive, time consuming and subject to delay.

     Clinical trials are very expensive and difficult to design and implement, especially in the cancer and congestive heart failure indications that we are pursuing, in part because they are subject to rigorous requirements. The clinical trial process is also time consuming. According to industry sources, the entire drug development and testing process takes on average 12 to 15 years. According to industry studies, the fully capitalized resource cost of new drug development averages approximately $800 million, however, individual trials and individual drug candidates may incur a range of costs above or below this average. We estimate that clinical trials of our most advanced drug candidates will continue for several years, but may take significantly longer to complete. The commencement and completion of our clinical trials could be delayed or prevented by several factors, including, but not limited to:

     We do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Significant delays in clinical trials will impede our ability to commercialize our drug candidates and generate revenue and could significantly increase our development costs.

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We depend on GSK for the conduct, completion and funding of the clinical development and commercialization of our current drug candidates for the treatment of cancer.

     Under our strategic alliance with GSK, GSK is currently responsible for the clinical development and regulatory approval of our cancer drug candidates, ispinesib and SB-743921. GSK is responsible for filing applications with the FDA or other regulatory authorities for approval of these drug candidates, and will be the owner of any marketing approvals issued by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. If the FDA or other regulatory authorities approve these drug candidates, GSK will also be responsible for the marketing and sale of these drugs. Because GSK is responsible for these functions, we cannot control whether GSK will devote sufficient attention and resources to the clinical trials program or will proceed in an expeditious manner. Under certain circumstances, GSK has discretion to elect whether to pursue the development of our drug candidates or to abandon the clinical trial programs, and, after June 20, 2006, GSK may terminate our strategic alliance for any reason upon six months prior notice. These decisions are outside our control. Because both of our cancer drug candidates being developed by GSK act through inhibition of kinesin spindle protein, or KSP, a protein that is a member of a class of cytoskeletal proteins called mitotic kinesins that regulate DNA division, or mitosis, during cell division, it is possible that GSK may elect to proceed with the development of only one such drug candidate If GSK were to elect to proceed with the development of SB-743921 in lieu of ispinesib, and because SB-743921 is at an earlier stage of clinical development than ispinesib, the approval, if any, of a new drug application, or NDA, with respect to a drug candidate from our cancer program would be delayed. In particular, if the initial clinical results of some of our early clinical trials do not meet GSK’s expectations, GSK may elect to terminate further development of one or both drug candidates, even though the actual number of patients that have been treated is relatively small. Abandonment of one or both of ispinesib and SB-743921 by GSK would result in a delay in or prevent us from commercializing such drug candidates, and would delay or prevent our ability to generate revenues. Disputes may arise between us and GSK, which may delay or cause termination of the clinical trials program, result in significant litigation or arbitration, or cause GSK to act in a manner that is not in our best interest. If development of our drug candidates does not progress for these or any other reasons, we would not receive further milestone payments from GSK. GSK also has the contractual right to reduce its funding of our FTEs for this program at their discretion, subject to certain agreed minimum levels, in the beginning of each contract year based on the activities of the agreed upon research plan. Even if the FDA or other regulatory agencies approve one or more of our drug candidates, GSK may elect not to proceed with the commercialization of such drugs, or may elect to pursue commercialization of one drug but not others, and these decisions are outside our control. In such event, or in the event that GSK abandons development of any drug candidate prior to regulatory approval, we would have to undertake and fund the clinical development of our drug candidates or commercialization of our drugs, seek a new partner for clinical development or commercialization, or curtail or abandon the clinical development or commercialization programs. If we were unable to do so on acceptable terms, or at all, our business would be harmed, and the price of our common stock and other securities, if any, would be negatively affected.

If we fail to enter into and maintain successful strategic alliances for certain of our drug candidates, we may have to reduce or delay our drug candidate development or increase our expenditures.

     Our strategy for developing, manufacturing and commercializing certain of our drug candidates currently requires us to enter into and successfully maintain strategic alliances with pharmaceutical companies or other industry participants to advance our programs and reduce our expenditures on each program. We have formed a strategic alliance with GSK with respect to ispinesib, SB-743921 and certain other research activities. However, we may not be able to negotiate additional strategic alliances on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are not able to maintain our existing strategic alliances or establish and maintain additional strategic alliances, we may have to limit the size or scope of, or delay, one or more of our drug development programs or research programs or undertake and fund these programs ourselves. If we elect to increase our

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expenditures to fund drug development programs or research programs on our own, we will need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all.

The success of our development efforts depends in part on the performance of our partners and the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, over which we have little or no control.

     Our ability to commercialize drugs that we develop with our partners and that generate royalties from product sales depends on our partners’ abilities to assist us in establishing the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates, obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals and achieving market acceptance of the drugs once commercialized. Our partners may elect to delay or terminate development of one or more drug candidates, independently develop drugs that could compete with ours or fail to commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of drugs developed through their strategic alliances with us. It is likely that our partners will not proceed with the development and commercialization of our drug candidates with the same degree of urgency as we would because of other priorities they face. In particular, we are relying on the NCI to conduct several important clinical trials of our drug candidates. The NCI is a government agency and there can be no assurance that the NCI will not modify its plans to conduct such trials or will proceed with such trials diligently. If our partners fail to perform as we expect, our potential for revenue from drugs developed through our strategic alliances could be dramatically reduced.

Our focus on the discovery of drug candidates directed against specific proteins and pathways within the cytoskeleton is unproven, and we do not know whether we will be able to develop any drug candidates of commercial value.

     We believe that our focus on drug discovery and development directed at the cytoskeleton is novel and unique to us. While a number of commonly used drugs and a growing body of research validate the importance of the cytoskeleton in the origin and progression of a number of diseases, no existing drugs specifically and directly interact with the cytoskeletal proteins and pathways that our drug candidates seek to modulate. As a result, we cannot be certain that our drug candidates will appropriately modulate targeted cytoskeletal proteins and pathways or produce commercially viable drugs that safely and effectively treat cancer, congestive heart failure or other diseases, or that the results we have seen in preclinical models will translate into similar results in humans. In addition, even if we are successful in developing and receiving regulatory approval for a commercially viable drug for the treatment of one disease focused on the cytoskeleton, we cannot be certain that we will also be able to develop and receive regulatory approval for drug candidates for the treatment of other forms of that disease or other diseases. If we or our partners fail to develop and commercialize viable drugs, we will not achieve commercial success.

Our proprietary rights may not adequately protect our technologies and drug candidates.

     Our commercial success will depend in part on our obtaining and maintaining patent protection and trade secret protection of our technologies and drug candidates as well as successfully defending these patents against third-party challenges. We will only be able to protect our technologies and drug candidates from unauthorized use by third parties to the extent that valid and enforceable patents or trade secrets cover them. Furthermore, the degree of future protection of our proprietary rights is uncertain because legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep our competitive advantage.

     The patent positions of life sciences companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in such companies’ patents has emerged to date in the United States. The patent situation outside the United States is even more uncertain. Changes in either the patent laws or in

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interpretations of patent laws in the United States or other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property. Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents. For example:

     We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, especially where we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. While we use reasonable efforts to protect our trade secrets, our or our strategic partners’ employees, consultants, contractors or scientific and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our information to competitors. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, our enforcement efforts would be expensive and time consuming, and the outcome would be unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States are sometimes less willing to protect trade secrets. Moreover, if our competitors independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how, it will be more difficult for us to enforce our rights and our business could be harmed.

     If we are not able to defend the patent or trade secret protection position of our technologies and drug candidates, then we will not be able to exclude competitors from developing or marketing competing drugs, and we may not generate enough revenue from product sales to justify the cost of development of our drugs and to achieve or maintain profitability.

If we are sued for infringing intellectual property rights of third parties, such litigation will be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome would have a significant adverse effect on our business.

     Our ability to commercialize drugs depends on our ability to sell such drugs without infringing the patents or other proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the areas that we are exploring. In addition, because patent applications can take several years to issue, there may be currently pending applications, unknown to us, which may later result in issued patents that our drug candidates may infringe. There could also be existing patents of which we are not aware that our drug candidates may inadvertently infringe.

     In particular, we are aware of an issued U.S. patent and at least one pending U.S. patent application assigned to Curis, Inc. relating to certain compounds in the quinazolinone class. Ispinesib falls into this class of compounds. The Curis patent claims a method of use for inhibiting signaling by what is called the

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hedgehog pathway using certain such compounds. Curis has pending applications in Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada with claims covering compositions of certain quinazolinone compounds. We are also aware that the Australian application and one of the European applications have been granted. In addition, in Europe, Australia and elsewhere, the grant of a patent may be opposed by one or more parties. Curis or a third party may assert that the sale of ispinesib may infringe one or more of these or other patents. We believe that we have valid defenses against the Curis patents if asserted against us. However, we cannot guarantee that a court would find such defenses valid or that such oppositions would be successful. We have not attempted to obtain a license to this patent. If we decide to obtain a license to this patent, we cannot guarantee that we would be able to obtain such a license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

     In addition, we are aware of various issued U.S. patents and pending U.S. and foreign patent applications assigned to Cellomics, Inc. relating to an automated method for analyzing cells. One of these applications was granted in Europe. Cellomics or a third party may assert that our Cytometrix technologies fall within the scope of, and thus infringe, one or more of these patents. We have received a letter from Cellomics notifying us that Cellomics believes we may be practicing one or more of their patents and that Cellomics offers a use license for such patents through its licensing program. We believe that we have valid defenses to such an assertion. Moreover, the grant of the European patent may be opposed by one or more parties. However, we cannot guarantee that a court would find such defenses valid or that such opposition would be successful. If we decide to obtain a license to these patents, we cannot guarantee that we would be able to obtain such a license on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

     Other future products of ours may be impacted by patents of companies engaged in competitive programs with significantly greater resources (such as Merck & Co., Inc., or Merck). Further development of these products could be impacted by these patents and result in the expenditure of significant legal fees.

     If a third party claims that we infringe on their patents or other proprietary rights, we could face a number of issues that could seriously harm our competitive position, including, but not limited to:

We may become involved in disputes with our strategic partners over intellectual property ownership, and publications by our research collaborators and scientific advisors could impair our ability to obtain patent protection or protect our proprietary information, which, in either case, would have a significant impact on our business.

     Inventions discovered under our strategic alliance agreements become jointly owned by our strategic partners and us in some cases, and the exclusive property of one of us in other cases. Under some circumstances, it may be difficult to determine who owns a particular invention, or whether it is jointly owned, and disputes could arise regarding ownership of those inventions. These disputes could be costly and

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time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome would have a significant adverse effect on our business if we were not able to protect or license rights to these inventions. In addition, our research collaborators and scientific advisors have contractual rights to publish our data and other proprietary information, subject to our prior review. Publications by our research collaborators and scientific advisors containing such information, either with our permission or in contravention of the terms of their agreements with us, may impair our ability to obtain patent protection or protect our proprietary information, which could significantly harm our business.

To the extent we elect to fund the development of a drug candidate or the commercialization of a drug at our expense, we will need substantial additional funding.

     The discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule drugs focused on the cytoskeleton for the treatment of a wide array of diseases is costly. As a result, to the extent we elect to fund the development of a drug candidate or the commercialization of a drug at our expense, we will need to raise additional capital to:

     Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

     Until we can generate a sufficient amount of product revenue to finance our cash requirements, which we may never do, we expect to finance future cash needs primarily through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or strategic alliances. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are not able to secure additional funding when needed, we may have to

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delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our clinical trials or research and development programs or future commercialization initiatives.

We have no capacity to carry out our own clinical trials in connection with the development of our drug candidates and potential drug candidates, and to the extent we elect to develop a drug candidate without a strategic partner we will need to develop such capacity, and we will require additional funding.

     The development of drug candidates is complicated, and requires resources and experience that we do not have. Currently, we rely on our strategic partners to carry out these activities for those of our drug candidates that are in clinical trials. However, we do not have a partner for our potential cardiac myosin activator drug candidate, or, in the event GSK elects to terminate its development efforts, an alternative partner for our cancer drug candidates. To the extent we decide to initiate clinical trials for a drug candidate without support from a strategic partner, such as a potential drug candidate from our cardiovascular disease program, we will need to develop the skills, technical expertise and resources necessary to carry out such development efforts on our own or through the use of other third parties, such as contract research organizations, or CROs.

     If we utilize CROs, we will not have control over many aspects of their activities, and will not be able to control the amount or timing of resources that they devote to our programs. These third parties also may not assign as high a priority to our programs or pursue them as diligently as we would if we were undertaking such programs ourselves, and therefore may not complete their respective activities on schedule. CROs may also have relationships with our competitors and potential competitors, and may prioritize those relationships ahead of their relationships with us. Typically, we would have to qualify more than one vendor for each function performed outside of our control, which could be time consuming and costly. The failure of CROs to carry out development efforts on our behalf according to our requirements and FDA or other regulatory agencies’ standards, or our failure to properly coordinate and manage such efforts, could increase the cost of our operations and delay or prevent the development, approval and commercialization of our drug candidates.

     If we fail to develop the skills, technical expertise and resources necessary to carry out the development of our drug candidates, or if we fail to effectively manage our CROs carrying out such development, the commercialization of our drug candidates will be delayed or prevented.

We currently have no marketing or sales staff, and if we are unable to enter into or maintain strategic alliances with marketing partners or if we are unable to develop our own sales and marketing capabilities, we may not be successful in commercializing our potential drugs.

     We currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities. To commercialize our drugs that we determine not to market on our own, we will depend on strategic alliances with third parties, such as GSK, which have established distribution systems and direct sales forces. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements on acceptable terms, we may not be able to successfully commercialize such drugs.

     We plan to commercialize drugs on our own, with or without a partner, that can be effectively marketed and sold in concentrated markets that do not require a large sales force to be competitive. To achieve this goal, we will need to establish our own specialized sales force and marketing organization with technical expertise and with supporting distribution capabilities. Developing such an organization is expensive and time consuming and could delay a product launch. In addition, we may not be able to develop this capacity efficiently, or at all, which could make us unable to commercialize our drugs.

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     To the extent that we are not successful in commercializing any drugs ourselves or through a strategic alliance, our product revenues will suffer, we will incur significant additional losses and the price of our common stock and other securities, if any, will be negatively affected.

We have no manufacturing capacity, depend on a single contract manufacturer to produce our clinical trial drug supplies, and anticipate continued reliance on contract manufacturers for the development and commercialization of our potential drugs.

     We do not currently operate manufacturing facilities for clinical or commercial production of our drug candidates under development. We have no experience in drug formulation or manufacturing, and we lack the resources and the capabilities to manufacture any of our drug candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. As a result, we currently rely on a single contract manufacturer to supply, store and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials and anticipate future reliance on a limited number of contract manufacturers until we are able to expand our operations to include manufacturing capacities. Any performance failure on the part of our existing or future contract manufacturers could delay clinical development or regulatory approval of our drug candidates or commercialization of our drugs, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenues.

     Our drug candidates require precise, high quality manufacturing. Our failure or our contract manufacturer’s failure to achieve and maintain high manufacturing standards, including the incidence of manufacturing errors, could result in patient injury or death, product recalls or withdrawals, delays or failures in product testing or delivery, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously hurt our business. Contract drug manufacturers often encounter difficulties involving production yields, quality control and quality assurance, as well as shortages of qualified personnel. These manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and other regulatory agencies to ensure strict compliance with current good manufacturing practices and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards; however, we do not have control over contract manufacturers’ compliance with these regulations and standards. If one of our contract manufacturers fails to maintain compliance, the production of our drug candidates could be interrupted, resulting in delays, additional costs and potentially lost revenues. Additionally, our contract manufacturer must pass a preapproval inspection before we can obtain marketing approval for any of our drug candidates in development.

     If the FDA or other regulatory agencies approve any of our drug candidates for commercial sale, we will need to manufacture them in larger quantities. To date, our drug candidates have been manufactured in small quantities for preclinical testing and clinical trials and we may not be able to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity, whether in collaboration with contract manufacturers or on our own, for any of our drug candidates in a timely or economic manner, or at all. Significant scale-up of manufacturing may require additional validation studies, which the FDA must review and approve. If we are unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for a drug candidate, the regulatory approval or commercial launch of any related drugs may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply. Even if any contract manufacturer makes improvements in the manufacturing process for our drug candidates, we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to such improvements.

     In addition, our existing and future contract manufacturers may not perform as agreed or may not remain in the contract manufacturing business for the time required to successfully produce, store and distribute our drug candidates. We currently rely on a single contract manufacturer as the sole supply source for our drug candidates. In the event of a natural disaster, business failure, strike or other difficulty, we may be unable to replace such contract manufacturer in a timely manner and the production of our drug candidates would be interrupted, resulting in delays and additional costs.

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     Switching manufacturers may be difficult because the number of potential manufacturers is limited and the FDA must approve any replacement manufacturer prior to manufacturing our drug candidates. Such approval would require new testing and compliance inspections. In addition, a new manufacturer would have to be educated in, or develop substantially equivalent processes for, production of our drug candidates after receipt of FDA approval. It may be difficult or impossible for us to find a replacement manufacturer on acceptable terms quickly, or at all.

We expect to expand our development, clinical research and marketing capabilities, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.

     We expect to have significant growth in expenditures, the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, in particular with respect to those drug candidates that we elect to develop or commercialize independently or together with a partner. To manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Due to our limited resources, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel. The physical expansion of our operations may lead to significant costs and may divert our management and business development resources. Any inability to manage growth could delay the execution of our business plans or disrupt our operations.

The failure to attract and retain skilled personnel could impair our drug development and commercialization efforts.

     Our performance is substantially dependent on the performance of our senior management and key scientific and technical personnel, particularly James H. Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert I. Blum, our Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Commercial Operations and Chief Business Officer, Andrew A. Wolff, M.D., F.A.C.C., our Senior Vice President, Clinical Research and Chief Medical Officer, and Sharon A. Surrey-Barbari, our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. The employment of these individuals and our other personnel is terminable at will with short or no notice. We carry key person life insurance on James H. Sabry, M.D., Ph.D. The loss of the services of any member of our senior management, scientific or technical staff may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of drug development and other business objectives by diverting management’s attention to transition matters and identification of suitable replacements, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. We also rely on consultants and advisors to assist us in formulating our research and development strategy. All of our consultants and advisors are either self-employed or employed by other organizations, and they may have conflicts of interest or other commitments, such as consulting or advisory contracts with other organizations, that may affect their ability to contribute to us.

     In addition, we believe that we will need to recruit additional executive management and scientific and technical personnel. There is currently intense competition for skilled executives and employees with relevant scientific and technical expertise, and this competition is likely to continue. Our inability to attract and retain sufficient scientific, technical and managerial personnel could limit or delay our product development efforts, which would adversely affect the development of our drug candidates and commercialization of our potential drugs and growth of our business.

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Risks Related to Our Industry

Our competitors may develop drugs that are less expensive, safer, or more effective, which may diminish or eliminate the commercial success of any drugs that we may commercialize.

     We compete with companies that are also developing drug candidates that focus on the cytoskeleton, as well as companies that have developed drugs or are developing alternative drug candidates for cancer and cardiovascular, infectious and other diseases. For example, with respect to cancer, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Taxol® (paclitexel), Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Taxotere® (docetexel), and generic equivalents of Taxol are currently available on the market and commonly used in cancer treatment. Furthermore, we are aware that Merck, Chiron Corp., Bristol-Myers Squibb and other pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies are conducting research focused on KSP and other mitotic kinesins. In addition, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis and other pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies are developing other approaches to inhibiting mitosis. With respect to congestive heart failure, we are aware of a potentially competitive approach being developed by Orion in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories.

     Our competitors may:

     We will compete for market share against large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, new companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. Many of these competitors, either alone or together with their partners, may develop new drug candidates that will compete with ours, as these competitors may, and in certain cases do, operate larger research and development programs or have substantially greater financial resources than we do. Our competitors may also have significantly greater experience in:

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     If our competitors market drugs that are less expensive, safer or more effective than our potential drugs, or that reach the market sooner than our potential drugs, we may not achieve commercial success. In addition, the life sciences industry is characterized by rapid technological change. Because our research approach integrates many technologies, it may be difficult for us to stay abreast of the rapid changes in each technology. If we fail to stay at the forefront of technological change we may be unable to compete effectively. Our competitors may render our technologies obsolete by advances in existing technological approaches or the development of new or different approaches, potentially eliminating the advantages in our drug discovery process that we believe we derive from our research approach and proprietary technologies.

The regulatory approval process is expensive, time consuming and uncertain and may prevent our partners or us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our drug candidates.

     The research, testing, manufacturing, selling and marketing of drug candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and other countries, which regulations differ from country to country. Neither we nor our partners are permitted to market our potential drugs in the United States until we receive approval of a new drug application, or NDA, from the FDA. Neither we nor our partners have received marketing approval for any of our drug candidates. Obtaining an NDA can be a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process. In addition, failure to comply with the FDA and other applicable foreign and United States regulatory requirements may subject us to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions. These include warning letters, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, product seizure or detention, product recalls, total or partial suspension of production, and refusal to approve pending NDAs, or supplements to approved NDAs.

     Regulatory approval of an NDA or NDA supplement is never guaranteed, and the approval process typically takes several years and is extremely expensive. The FDA also has substantial discretion in the drug approval process. Despite the time and expense exerted, failure can occur at any stage, and we could encounter problems that cause us to abandon clinical trials or to repeat or perform additional preclinical testing and clinical trials. The number and focus of preclinical studies and clinical trials that will be required for FDA approval varies depending on the drug candidate, the disease or condition that the drug candidate is designed to address, and the regulations applicable to any particular drug candidate. The FDA can delay, limit or deny approval of a drug candidate for many reasons, including:

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If we or our partners receive regulatory approval for our drug candidates, we will also be subject to ongoing FDA obligations and continued regulatory review, such as continued safety reporting requirements, and we may also be subject to additional FDA post-marketing obligations, all of which may result in significant expense and limit our ability to commercialize our potential drugs.

     Any regulatory approvals that we or our partners receive for our drug candidates may also be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the drug may be marketed or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing follow-up studies. In addition, if the FDA approves any of our drug candidates, the labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and record-keeping for the drug will be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. The subsequent discovery of previously unknown problems with the drug, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, may result in restrictions on the marketing of the drug, and could include withdrawal of the drug from the market.

     The FDA’s policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our drug candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we might not be permitted to market our drugs and our business could suffer.

If physicians and patients do not accept our drugs, we may be unable to generate significant revenue, if any.

     Even if our drug candidates obtain regulatory approval, resulting drugs, if any, may not gain market acceptance among physicians, healthcare payors, patients and the medical community. Even if the clinical safety and efficacy of drugs developed from our drug candidates are established for purposes of approval, physicians may elect not to recommend these drugs for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:

     If our drugs fail to achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to generate significant revenue and our business would suffer.

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The coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved drugs is uncertain and failure to obtain adequate coverage and reimbursement could limit our ability to market any drugs we may develop and decrease our ability to generate revenue.

     There is significant uncertainty related to the coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs. The commercial success of our potential drugs in both domestic and international markets is substantially dependent on whether third-party coverage and reimbursement is available for the ordering of our potential drugs by the medical profession for use by their patients. Medicare, Medicaid, health maintenance organizations and other third-party payors are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drugs, and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our potential drugs. They may not view our potential drugs as cost-effective and reimbursement may not be available to consumers or may not be sufficient to allow our potential drugs to be marketed on a competitive basis. Likewise, legislative or regulatory efforts to control or reduce healthcare costs or reform government healthcare programs could result in lower prices or rejection of coverage for our potential drugs. Changes in coverage and reimbursement policies or healthcare cost containment initiatives that limit or restrict reimbursement for our drugs may cause our revenue to decline.

We may be subject to costly product liability claims and may not be able to obtain adequate insurance.

     Because we conduct clinical trials in humans, we face the risk that the use of our drug candidates will result in adverse effects. We currently maintain product liability insurance in the amount of $10.0 million with a $5,000 deductible per occurrence, however, such liability insurance currently excludes coverage of liability resulting from clinical trials. We cannot predict the possible harms or side effects that may result from our clinical trials. We may not have sufficient resources to pay for any liabilities resulting from a claim excluded from, or beyond the limit of, our insurance coverage.

     In addition, once we have commercially launched drugs based on our drug candidates, we will face exposure to product liability claims. This risk exists even with respect to those drugs that are approved for commercial sale by the FDA and manufactured in facilities licensed and regulated by the FDA. We intend to secure limited product liability insurance coverage, but may not be able to obtain such insurance on acceptable terms with adequate coverage, or at reasonable costs. There is also a risk that third parties that we have agreed to indemnify could incur liability. Even if we were ultimately successful in product liability litigation, the litigation would consume substantial amounts of our financial and managerial resources and may create adverse publicity, all of which would impair our ability to generate sales of the affected product as well as our other potential drugs. Moreover, product recalls may be issued at our discretion or at the direction of the FDA, other governmental agencies or other companies having regulatory control for drug sales. If product recalls occur, such recalls are generally expensive and often have an adverse effect on the image of the drugs being recalled as well as the reputation of the drug’s developer or manufacturer.

We may be subject to damages resulting from claims that our employees or we have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.

     Many of our employees were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although no claims against us are currently pending, we may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A loss of key research personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to commercialize certain

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potential drugs, which could severely harm our business. Even if we are successful in defending against these claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

We use hazardous chemicals and radioactive and biological materials in our business. Any claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of these materials could be time consuming and costly.

     Our research and development processes involve the controlled use of hazardous materials, including chemicals and radioactive and biological materials. Our operations produce hazardous waste products. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and any resultant injury from those materials. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous materials. We may be sued for any injury or contamination that results from our use or the use by third parties of these materials. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations may be expensive, and current or future environmental regulations may impair our research, development and production efforts.

     In addition, our partners may use hazardous materials in connection with our strategic alliances. To our knowledge, their work is performed in accordance with applicable biosafety regulations. In the event of a lawsuit or investigation, however, we could be held responsible for any injury caused to persons or property by exposure to, or release of, these hazardous materials used by these parties. Further, we may be required to indemnify our partners against all damages and other liabilities arising out of our development activities or drugs produced in connection with these strategic alliances.

Our facilities in California are located near an earthquake fault, and an earthquake or other types of natural disasters or resource shortages could disrupt our operations and adversely affect results.

     Important documents and records, such as hard copies of our laboratory books and records for our drug candidates and compounds, are located in our corporate headquarters at a single location in South San Francisco, California near active earthquake zones. In the event of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, drought or flood, or localized extended outages of critical utilities or transportation systems, we do not have a formal business continuity or disaster recovery plan, and could therefore experience a significant business interruption. In addition, California from time to time has experienced shortages of water, electric power and natural gas. Future shortages and conservation measures could disrupt our operations and cause expense, thus adversely affecting our business and financial results.

Risks Related To an Investment in Our Securities

We expect that our stock price will fluctuate significantly, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above your investment price.

     The stock market, particularly in recent years, has experienced significant volatility particularly with respect to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences company stocks. The volatility of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences company stocks often does not relate to the operating performance of the companies represented by the stock. Factors that could cause this volatility in the market price of our common stock include, but are not limited to:

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     These and other external factors may cause the market price and demand for our common stock to fluctuate substantially, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares of common stock and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common stock has been. In addition, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders brought a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management.

If the ownership of our common stock continues to be highly concentrated, it may prevent you and other stockholders from influencing significant corporate decisions and may result in conflicts of interest that could cause our stock price to decline.

     As of March 30, 2005, our executive officers, directors and their affiliates beneficially owned or controlled approximately 39% percent of the outstanding shares of our common stock (after giving effect to

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the exercise of all outstanding vested and unvested options and warrants). Accordingly, these executive officers, directors and their affiliates, acting as a group, will have substantial influence over the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any other significant corporate transactions. These stockholders may also delay or prevent a change of control of us, even if such a change of control would benefit our other stockholders. The significant concentration of stock ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock due to investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise.

Future sales of common stock by our existing stockholders may cause our stock price to fall.

     The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales by our existing stockholders of shares of common stock in the market after our initial public offering, or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales might also make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities at a time and price that we deem appropriate. The lock-up agreements delivered by our executive officers and directors, and substantially all of our stockholders and option holders, in connection with our initial public offering on April 29, 2004, expired on October 27, 2004. Subject to applicable securities law restrictions and other agreements between the company and certain of such stockholders, these shares are now freely tradable.

Evolving regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses and continuing uncertainty.

     Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, new Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and Nasdaq National Market rules are creating uncertainty for public companies. We are presently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to new and proposed rules and cannot predict or estimate the amount of the additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. For example, compliance with the internal control requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 for the year ended December 31, 2005 requires the commitment of significant resources to document and test the adequacy of our internal controls. While we plan to expend significant resources in developing the required documentation and testing procedures required by Section 404, we can provide no assurance as to conclusions of management or by our independent registered accounting firm with respect to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. These new or changed laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and public disclosure. As a result, we intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies, due to ambiguities related to practice or otherwise, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and we may be harmed.

Volatility in the stock prices of other companies may contribute to volatility in our stock price.

     The stock market in general, Nasdaq and the market for technology companies in particular, have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. Further, there has been particular volatility in the market prices of securities of early stage and development stage life sciences companies. These broad market and industry factors may seriously harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance.

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In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted. A securities class action suit against us could result in substantial costs, potential liabilities and the diversion of management’s attention and resources.

We have never paid dividends on our capital stock, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

     We have paid no cash dividends on any of our classes of capital stock to date and we currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our businesses. In addition, the terms of existing or any future debts may preclude us from paying these dividends.

Our common stock is thinly traded and there may not be an active, liquid trading market for our common stock.

     There is no guarantee that an active trading market for our common stock will be maintained on Nasdaq, or that the volume of trading will be sufficient to allow for timely trades. Investors may not be able to sell their shares quickly or at the latest market price if trading in our stock is not active or if trading volume is limited. In addition, if trading volume in our common stock is limited, trades of relatively small numbers of shares may have a disproportionate effect on the market price of our common stock.

Risks Relating to the Offered Securities

Our stock price may continue to experience fluctuations, which may significantly affect the market price of our common stock and securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock.

     The market price of our common stock fluctuates and is expected to continue to be volatile in the future. These price fluctuations may be rapid and severe and may leave investors little time to react. Factors that may affect the market price of our common stock include the risks and uncertainties described above in this prospectus or described in any applicable prospectus supplement, as well as changes in securities analysts’ earnings projections or recommendations. These factors could lead to a significant decrease in the market price of our common stock and securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock.

The securities we are offering may not develop an active public market, which could depress the resale price of the securities.

     The securities that we may offer, other than our common stock, will be new issues of securities for which there is currently no trading market. We cannot predict whether an active trading market for the securities will develop or be sustained. Any underwriters may make a market in these securities, but will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. If an active trading market were to develop, the securities could trade at prices that may be lower than the initial offering price of the securities. We cannot guarantee the liquidity of the trading markets for any securities.

We will have broad discretion over the use of the proceeds to us from this offering and may apply it to uses that do not improve our operating results or the value of your securities.

     We will have broad discretion to use the net proceeds to us from this offering, and investors will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors and management regarding the application of these proceeds. Although we expect to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, we have not allocated these net proceeds for specific purposes. Investors will not have the opportunity, as part of their investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. Our use of the proceeds may not improve our operating results or increase the value of the securities being offered hereby.

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DISCLOSURE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     In addition to the other information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, you should carefully consider the risk factors disclosed in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement when evaluating an investment in our securities. This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations that are within the meaning of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. It is the Company’s intent that such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby.

     Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and our actual results and the timing of events may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding:

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USE OF PROCEEDS

     Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, the net proceeds from the sale of securities offered by this prospectus will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital requirements. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to fund possible investments in and acquisitions of complementary businesses, partnerships, minority investments, products or technologies. Currently, there are no commitments or agreements regarding such acquisitions or investments that are material. Pending their ultimate use, we intend to invest the net proceeds in money market funds, commercial paper and governmental and non-governmental debt securities.

RATIO OF EARNINGS AVAILABLE TO COVER FIXED CHARGES

     The ratio of earnings to fixed charges and the ratio of earnings to combined fixed charges and preferred stock dividends for each of the periods indicated is as follows:

     In calculating the ratio of earnings available to cover fixed charges and the ratio of earnings available to cover combined fixed charges and preferred dividends, “earnings” consists of net income (loss) before provisions for income taxes plus fixed charges. Fixed charges consist of:

     For the periods set forth in the table above, we had preferred stock outstanding only during 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and until April 29, 2004. All outstanding shares of preferred stock were converted into shares of common stock in connection with our initial public offering under our Registration Statement (SEC File No. 333-112261) declared effective by the SEC on April 29, 2004. We have no preferred stock outstanding as of the date of this prospectus.

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DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

     As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized capital stock consists of 130,000,000 shares. Those shares consist of 120,000,000 shares designated as common stock, $0.001 par value, and 10,000,000 shares designated as preferred stock, $0.001 par value. The only equity securities currently outstanding are shares of common stock. As of May 31, 2005, there were approximately 28,615,114 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.

     The following description summarizes the material terms of our capital stock. This summary is, however, subject to the provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation and any applicable certificate of designations for a series of preferred stock, and by the provisions of applicable law.

Common Stock

     Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. Upon any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our business, the holders of common stock are entitled to share equally in all assets available for distribution after payment of all liabilities and provision for liquidation preference of shares of preferred stock then outstanding. Holders of common stock have no preemptive rights or rights to convert their common stock into any other securities. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive dividends declared by the board of directors, out of funds legally available for the payment of dividends, subject to the rights of holders of preferred stock. Currently, we are not paying dividends.

     Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “CYTK.” The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Mellon Investor Services LLC. Mellon’s address is 235 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California 94104 and its telephone number is (415) 743-1422.

     All outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and non-assessable, and all shares of common stock offered by this prospectus, or issuable upon conversion or exercise of securities, will, when issued, be validly issued and fully paid and non-assessable.

Preferred Stock

     Pursuant to our restated certificate of incorporation, our board of directors has the authority, without further approval by the stockholders, to designate and issue up 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series. Cytokinetics’ board of directors may designate the powers, preferences, privileges and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions of each series of preferred stock, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of the common stock. Thus, without stockholder approval, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting, conversion and other rights that could dilute the voting power and other rights of holders of our common stock, and may have the effect of decreasing the market price of the common stock.

     The description of certain provisions of the preferred stock set forth in any prospectus supplement does not purport to be complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our certificate of incorporation and the certificate of designations relating to each series of preferred stock. The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the specific terms of any series of preferred stock being offered which may include:

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     All shares of preferred stock offered by this prospectus, or issuable upon conversion or exercise of securities, will, when issued, be validly issued and fully paid and non-assessable.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Some Provisions of Delaware Law

     Provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended bylaws could make the acquisition of our company through a tender offer, a proxy contest or other means more difficult and could make the removal of incumbent officers and directors more difficult. We expect these provisions to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids and to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of our company to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits provided by our ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging these proposals. We believe the negotiation of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal could result in an improvement of its terms.

     We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, an anti-takeover law. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years following the date the person became an interested stockholder, unless:

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     Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns or, within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, did own 15% or more of a corporation’s outstanding voting securities. We expect the existence of this provision to have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions our board of directors does not approve in advance. We also anticipate that Section 203 may also discourage attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by stockholders.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Provisions of Our Charter Documents

     Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for our board of directors to be divided into three classes serving staggered terms. Approximately one-third of the board of directors will be elected each year. The provision for a classified board could prevent a party who acquires control of a majority of the outstanding voting stock from obtaining control of the board of directors until the second annual stockholders meeting following the date the acquirer obtains the controlling stock interest. The classified board provision could discourage a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our company and could increase the likelihood that incumbent directors will retain their positions. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that directors may be removed with cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of the outstanding shares of common stock.

     Our amended bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to the board of directors. At an annual meeting, stockholders may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the board of directors. Stockholders may also consider a proposal or nomination by a person who was a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has given to our Secretary timely written notice, in proper form, of his or her intention to bring that business before the meeting. The amended bylaws do not give the board of directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates or proposals regarding other business to be conducted at a special or annual meeting of the stockholders. However, our bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed. These provisions may also discourage or deter a potential acquirer

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from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our company.

     Under Delaware law, a special meeting of stockholders may be called by the board of directors or by any other person authorized to do so in the amended and restated certificate of incorporation or the amended bylaws. Our amended bylaws authorize a majority of our board of directors, the chairman of the board or the chief executive officer to call a special meeting of stockholders.

     Because our stockholders do not have the right to call a special meeting, a stockholder could not force stockholder consideration of a proposal over the opposition of the board of directors by calling a special meeting of stockholders prior to such time as a majority of the board of directors believed or the chief executive officer believed the matter should be considered or until the next annual meeting provided that the requestor met the notice requirements. The restriction on the ability of stockholders to call a special meeting means that a proposal to replace the board also could be delayed until the next annual meeting.

     Delaware law provides that stockholders may execute an action by written consent in lieu of a stockholder meeting. However, Delaware law also allows us to eliminate stockholder actions by written consent. Elimination of written consents of stockholders may lengthen the amount of time required to take stockholder actions since actions by written consent are not subject to the minimum notice requirement of a stockholder’s meeting. However, we believe that the elimination of stockholders’ written consents may deter hostile takeover attempts. Without the availability of stockholder’s actions by written consent, a holder controlling a majority of our capital stock would not be able to amend our bylaws or remove directors without holding a stockholders’ meeting. The holder would have to obtain the consent of a majority of the board of directors, the chairman of the board or the chief executive officer to call a stockholders’ meeting and satisfy the notice periods determined by the board of directors. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for the elimination of actions by written consent of stockholders upon the closing of this offering.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE WARRANTS

General

     We may issue warrants for the purchase of our common stock or preferred stock or any combination thereof. Warrants may be issued independently or together with our common stock or preferred stock and may be attached to or separate from any offered securities. Each series of warrants will be issued under a separate warrant agreement to be entered into between us and a bank or trust company, as warrant agent. The warrant agent will act solely as our agent in connection with the warrants. The warrant agent will not have any obligation or relationship of agency or trust for or with any holders or beneficial owners of warrants. This summary of certain provisions of the warrants is not complete. For the terms of a particular series of warrants, you should refer to the prospectus supplement for that series of warrants and the warrant agreement for that particular series.

     The prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of warrants to purchase our common stock or preferred stock will describe the terms of the warrants, including the following:

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     Holders of warrants will not be entitled:

     As set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement, the exercise price and the number of shares of common stock purchasable upon exercise of the warrant will be subject to adjustment in certain events, including the issuance of a stock dividend to any holders of common stock or preferred stock, a stock split, reverse stock split, combination, subdivision or reclassification of common stock or preferred stock, and such other events, if any, specified in the applicable prospectus supplement.

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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     We may sell the securities covered by this prospectus in any of the following ways:

     If underwriters are used in the sale, they will acquire the securities for their own account and may resell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions at a fixed public offering price. The obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to the conditions set forth in the applicable underwriting agreement. We may offer the securities to the public through underwriting syndicates represented by managing underwriters or by underwriters without a syndicate. Each prospectus supplement will identify any underwriter, dealer or agent, and describe any compensation received by them from us. Any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time.

     Underwriters, dealers or agents may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from us or our purchasers as their agents in connection with the sale of the securities. These underwriters, dealers or agents may be considered to be underwriters under the Securities Act. As a result, discounts, commissions or profits on resale received by underwriters, dealers or agents may be treated as underwriting discounts and commissions.

     Underwriters or agents and their associates may be customers of, engage in transactions with or perform services for us in the ordinary course of business. We will describe in the prospectus supplement, naming the underwriter, the nature of any such relationship.

     We may grant underwriters who participate in the distribution of the securities an option to purchase additional securities to cover over-allotments, if any, in connection with the distribution. We will identify the amount of any such over-allotment option in the applicable prospectus supplement.

     We will name any agent involved in the offering and sale of securities and we will describe any commissions we will pay the agent and the terms of any agency relationship in the prospectus supplement. We may authorize agents or underwriters to solicit offers by certain types of institutional investors to purchase securities from us at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. We will describe the conditions to these contracts and the commissions we must pay for solicitation of these contracts in the prospectus supplement.

     We may distribute the securities from time to time in one or more transactions:

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     A prospectus supplement or supplements will describe the method of distribution of each distribution of securities in the applicable prospectus supplement.

     We may determine the price or other terms of the securities offered under this prospectus by use of an electronic auction. We will describe how any auction will determine the price or any other terms, how potential investors may participate in the auction and the nature of the underwriters’ obligations in the related supplement to this prospectus.

     Underwriters, dealers and agents may be entitled to indemnification by us against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribution with respect to payments made by the underwriters, dealers or agents, under agreements between us and the underwriters, dealers and agents.

     In connection with the offering of the securities, certain persons participating in such offering may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the market price, including over-allotment, stabilizing transactions, short covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Over-allotment involves sales in excess of the offering size, which create a short position. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum. Short covering transactions involve purchases of the common stock in the open market after the distribution is completed to cover short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer is purchased in a covering transaction to cover short positions. Those activities may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would otherwise be. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue any of the activities at any time.

     All securities we offer, other than common stock, will be new issues of securities with no established trading market. The securities may or may not be listed on a national securities exchange or traded in the over-the-counter market. Any underwriters may make a market in these securities, but will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. We cannot guarantee the liquidity of the trading markets for any securities.

     Any underwriters who are qualified market makers on the Nasdaq National Market may engage in passive market making transactions in the securities on the Nasdaq National Market in accordance with Rule 103 of Regulation M, during the business day prior to the pricing of the offering, before the commencement of offers or sales of the securities. Passive market makers must comply with applicable volume and price limitations and must be identified as passive market makers. In general, a passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid for such security; if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker’s bid, however, the passive market maker’s bid must then be lowered when certain purchase limits are exceeded.

     To the extent required, this prospectus may be amended and supplemented from time to time to describe a specific plan of distribution.

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LEGAL MATTERS

     The validity of securities offered hereby will be passed upon by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation, Palo Alto, California.

EXPERTS

     The financial statements incorporated in this prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

     We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-3 under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of common stock we are offering under this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits to the registration statement. For further information with respect to us and the securities we are offering under this prospectus, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed as a part of the registration statement. You may read and copy the registration statement, as well as our reports, proxy statements and other information, at the SEC’s public reference room at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can request copies of these documents by writing to the SEC and paying a fee for the copying cost. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for more information about the operation of the public reference rooms. Our SEC filings are also available at the SEC’s web site at “http://www.sec.gov.”

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INFORMATION INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

     The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” into this prospectus the information we filed with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be a part of this prospectus. Information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and any future filings made by us with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (other than reports or portions furnished under Items 2.02, 7.01 or 8.01 of Form 8-K) until we complete our offering of the securities offered by this prospectus:

     Copies of documents incorporated by reference, excluding exhibits except to the extent such exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference, are available from us without charge, upon oral or written request to:

Cytokinetics, Incorporated
280 East Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, California 94080
United States of America
Attn: Investor Relations
(650) 624-3000

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PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS

Item 14. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution

     The aggregate estimated expenses to be paid by the registrant in connection with this offering are as follows:

Item 15. Indemnification of Directors and Officers of Cytokinetics, Incorporated

     Under Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, we can indemnify any person who is, or is threatened to be made, a party to any threatened, pending or completed legal action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative other than action by us or on our behalf, by reason of the fact that such person is or was one of our officers or directors, or is or was serving at our request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided that such officer or director acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to our best interests, and, for criminal proceedings, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was illegal. Under Delaware law, we may also indemnify officers and directors in an action by us or on our behalf under the same conditions, except that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer or director is adjudged to be liable to us in the performance of his or her duty. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, we must indemnify him or her against the expenses which such officer or director actually and reasonably incurred.

     Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains a provision to limit the personal liability of our directors for violations of their fiduciary duty. This provision eliminates each director’s liability to us or our stockholders for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. The effect of this provision is to eliminate the personal liability of directors for monetary damages for actions involving a breach of their fiduciary duty of care, including any such actions involving gross negligence.

     Our amended and restated bylaws provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

     We have also entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and officers. The indemnification agreements provide indemnification to our directors and officers under certain circumstances for acts or omissions which may not be covered by directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. We have also obtained directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, which insures against liabilities that our directors or officers may incur in such capacities.

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Item 16. Exhibits

     The following exhibits are filed herewith or incorporated by reference herein:

EXHIBIT INDEX

Item 17. Undertakings

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provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (1)(ii) do not apply if the registration statement is on Form S-3, Form S-8 or Form F-3, and the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

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SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3, and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of South San Francisco, State of California on June 14, 2005.

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POWER OF ATTORNEY

     KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints James Sabry and Sharon Surrey-Barbari, his or her true and lawful agent, proxy and attorney-in-fact, each acting alone, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to (i) act on, sign, and file with the SEC any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement together with all schedules and exhibits thereto, (ii) act on, sign and file such certificates, instruments, agreements and other documents as may be necessary or appropriate in connection therewith, (iii) act on and file any supplement to any prospectus included in this registration statement or any such amendment or any subsequent registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, and (iv) take any and all actions which may be necessary or appropriate to be done, as fully for all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby approving, ratifying and confirming all that such agent, proxy and attorney-in-fact or any of his substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

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EXHIBIT INDEX

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