Ono swoops on Deciphera in $2.4 billion takeover

Japan’s Ono Pharma has bolstered its cancer pipeline with a $2.4 billion agreement to buy Deciphera Pharma of the US and its fast-growing gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) therapy Qinlock.

Ono is offering $26.50 per share in cash for the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company, saying the deal will enable it to “build a robust presence in oncology,” one of the group’s key priority areas.

KIT inhibitor Qinlock (ripretinib) is approved in more than 40 countries around the world as a fourth-line therapy for GIST in adults who have received prior treatment with three or more kinase inhibitor therapies.

Deciphera’s efforts to move it earlier in the treatment pathway have suffered some setbacks, but the drug still grew 27% to $159 million last year, filled by international rollout. Meanwhile, the company is working towards moving it into the second-line setting in patients with specific KIT mutations with the phase 3 INTRIGUE trial, which is comparing the drug to mainstay GIST treatment sunitinib.

Deciphera has said that it expects Qinlock’s peak sales to reach $350 million to $400 million in the US alone, if it gets approval for earlier use.

At the same time, Ono’s interest in the US company is likely also to be driven as much, if not more so, by vimseltinib, a CSF-1 receptor inhibitor that is due to be filed in the next few months in the US and Europe as a treatment for tenosynovial giant cell tumour (TGCT), a rare disease affecting the joints.

The only FDA-approved therapy for TGCT, Daiichi Sankyo’s oral CSF-1, KIT, and FLT3 inhibitor Turalio (pexidartinib), has a black box warning for liver damage and has its use restricted in pregnancy due to a risk of birth defects. Vimseltinib has a favourable side-effect profile, according to Deciphera, along with the potential for use in follow-up indications, including graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and in combination with Qinlock.

Competition could come from Merck KGaA/Abbisko’s pimicotinib (ABSK021), another orally active CSF-1 receptor inhibitor, and SynOx’s emactuzumab, which inhibits the activity of CSF1 receptor-dependent tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs). Both are in phase 3 testing.

Meanwhile, earlier in Deciphera’s pipeline is a ULK inhibitor called DCC-3116, vying to be the first in its class and currently in phase 1 studies as a monotherapy and in combination with Qinlock and Amgen’s KRAS inhibitor Lumakras (sotorasib), as well as RAF and KIT inhibitors in early-stage clinical development.

Ono’s chief executive, Gyo Sagara, said that buying Deciphera would not only expand its oncology pipeline, but also expand its presence in the US and Europe and increase its capabilities in kinase research.

“We respect the innovative culture of Deciphera and look forward to working together to drive further growth for both Ono and Deciphera,” he added.

The Japanese company plans to buy Deciphera via a tender offer and is hoping to complete the process in the third quarter of this year. Its offer is a near-75% premium to the US firm’s share price before the deal was announced, but the stock had risen more than 70% in pre-market trading at the time of writing.