Dive Brief:
- Deciphera Pharmaceuticals plans to cut a third of its workforce, give up on an experimental drug and scale back ambitions for its sole approved product in an effort to save cash for other medicines in its pipeline.
- The Massachusetts biotech said Tuesday it will eliminate about 140 positions, or 35% of its workforce, as part of the restructuring. The company will also discontinue development of rebastinib, which Deciphera planned to study in a Phase 3 trial in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer next year.
- At the same time, the company is curtailing its commercial plans for Qinlock, approved in the U.S. for fourth-line treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST. The company is reducing its sales force for the drug in the U.S., paring back European marketing to focus on Germany and France and canceling plans for further clinical development of the medicine.
Dive Insight:
Deciphera is regrouping after Qinlock failed to outperform standard of care in a Phase 3 study testing the drug as a second-line treatment for GIST. Sales of the drug in the fourth-line setting have been modest, reaching $21.7 million in the third quarter.
Wall Street analysts viewed the restructuring as a necessary step, and the company’s shares jumped 12% on Tuesday. The savings will allow Deciphera to conserve enough cash to operate though 2024 while focusing on two experimental cancer drugs it deems most promising for future growth: vimseltinib and another drug called DCC-3116.
A Phase 3 study of vimseltinib, an oral medicine for tenosynovial giant cell tumors, should start before the end of the year, Deciphera said.
DCC-3116, intended to treat tumors with certain types of mutations, is in an earlier stage. The company plans to release data from a Phase 1 dosing study next year.
Deciphera isn’t the only biotech company cutting jobs this fall. Theravance, Esperion and FibroGen have all announced workforce reductions in recent months. Deciphera said it will take a charge of about $32 million in the fourth quarter for the restructuring.