durable, longer-lasting kinase-inhibiting drugs, and be applicable to a broader range of cancers. Deciphera’s drugs are designed to lock a mutated kinase in its inactive shape so it can’t begin firing bad signals—say, for a cell to grow uncontrollably.
“Even the most aggressive mutations are controlled by switch control inhibitors to a far greater degree than the traditional types,” Taylor says.
Deciphera will try to prove this over the next few years. Its two lead candidates are altiratinib and DCC-2618. Altiratinib is in Phase 1 trials as a treatment for patients whose tumors have certain types of alterations to the MET gene. DCC-2618, which blocks all mutations of the KIT gene, will begin its first tests by the end of the year in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and systemic mastocytosis, an abnormal buildup of mast cells, which normally help protect the body from disease. (Deciphera has some competition here: Another Boston-area biotech, Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BPMC]]), is also developing drugs for GIST and systemic mastocytosis.)
A third drug, Rebastinib, which inhibits the TIE2 kinase, is being studied as a potential combination treatment with cancer immunotherapy drugs, and is also in Phase 1 testing.
When starting up Deciphera over a decade ago, Flynn had a tough time raising cash post-9/11. So on a holiday visit with his wife and family in Kansas he’d heard of a “couple of families” who were interested in investing in biotech, specifically to turn the Kansas City area into something of a “Midwest mini hub of biotech.” They agreed to back his venture, and Flynn set the company up in Lawrence, KS, where it toiled away for years in relative obscurity. Still, Deciphera’s efforts led to a $130 million drug development deal with Eli Lilly in 2008.
Once Deciphera’s pipeline began to take shape, the company needed to grow and raise enough cash to develop its drugs. Taylor, the former CEO of Ensemble Therapeutics, came aboard in April 2014, and the company opened up an office in Waltham to recruit folks and meet with East Coast investors.
While Waltham will increasingly become Deciphera’s “center of gravity” over time, Lawrence remains its research hub, and there are no plans to change that, Taylor says.
“It’s a nice college town. If you’ve never been there, go there during the basketball season,” he says, referencing the nearby University of Kansas and its team, the Jayhawks. “It’s totally nuts.”
