Kansas Biosciences Authority Votes in Favor of a $1.6MM Product Development Grant to Deciphera

July 18, 2011 (Lawrence, Kansas) – The Kansas Bioscience Authority Investment Meeting voted on July 13th to approve a $1.6MM grant under the KBA Voucher Program to support preclinical development activities for three new development programs nominated from the Deciphera drug pipeline. The three projects supported by this new grant include DCC-2618, a pan-cKIT kinase inhibitor which targets treatment-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumors; DCC-2701, a novel cMET inhibitor that also potently inhibits both the VEGF and the Angiopoietin tumor vascularization pathways; DCC-2721, a cMET kinase inhibitor which has demonstrated pronounced efficacy in preclinical cancer models; and DP-5599, a potent cFMS kinase inhibitor. DP-5599 has the potential to treat metastatic breast, prostate, renal, glioblastoma, and ovarian cancers by blocking the role Tumor Associated Macrophages (TAMs) in tumor invasiveness and metastasis. Preliminary studies on a second cFMS inhibitor, DP-6221, are also included in this grant to advance this compound as a potential treatment of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, autoimmune nephritis, and multiple sclerosis.

The KBA Voucher program provides matching funds for product development studies involving two or more Kansas-based entities. Deciphera’s partners for this grant include Xenometrics LLC, a safety testing and toxicology facility located in Stillwell, KS; XenoTech LLC, which specializes in drug metabolism services, located in Lenexa, KS; and KCAS, a Shawnee, KS-based provider of bioanalytical services. This award follows after a previous Voucher award received in July 2010 which provided support for earlier stage studies and were important in helping to characterize and identify the drug candidates which are the subject of this new grant.

For more information on the KBA voucher program, refer to http://www.kansasbioauthority.org/how_we_can_help/Voucher.aspx.