Ono goes for growth with $2.4bn Deciphera buy

Deciphera’s commitment to a rare cancer in the wake of clinical disappointment has paid off. Ono Pharmaceutical plans to buy the US developer for $2.4bn, a 75% premium over Deciphera’s Friday share price. The Japanese group originated Opdivo, and the Bristol Myers Squibb checkpoint inhibitor remains its biggest income generator, but Ono is trying to build a presence outside its home market. It also has an eye on Opdivo’s inevitable patent expiry, and apparently views Deciphera’s gastrointestinal stromal tumour treatment Qinlock and soon-to-be filed vimseltinib, a potential treatment for tenosynovial giant cell tumours, as attractive new revenue streams. Still, investors had been struggling to see the potential of these projects, and Deciphera’s stock never fully recovered from the 2021 collapse triggered by Qinlock’s failure in second-line GIST. That setback left the drug with a fourth-line label, from which Deciphera extracted $159m in sales last year; it has said positive pivotal results in a GIST genetic subtype could open another $200m market. Ono must be expecting clinical success here, and from Deciphera’s wider kinase inhibitor platform. Shareholders, meanwhile, will no doubt be happy to take an offer pitched at a price not seen for two and a half years.  Deciphera's $2.4bn pipelineProjectMechanismStatusQinlock (ripretinib)KIT inhibitor Approved in 4th-line GIST; results due 2026 from ph3 Insight trial in 2nd-line KIT Exon 11 and 17/18 mutationsVimseltinibCSF1R inhibitor Ph3 Motion trial in TGCT successful, IND planned Q2 2024; cGVHD ph2 readyDCC-3116ULK inhibitorPh1 ongoing in advanced cancers with RAS/MAPK mutations, +/- MEK and KRAS G12C inhibitorsDCC-3084Pan-RAF inhibitorPh1/2 in MAPK-driven tumours planned; recruitment to start May 2024DCC-3009Pan-KIT inhibitorPreclinical; first-in-human trial planned H2 2024ISR programmeGCN2 activatorResearch projectSource: OncologyPipeline.