Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. issued the following announcement on Feb. 12.
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for Priority Review its New Drug Application (NDA) seeking approval for ripretinib, the Company’s investigational broad-spectrum KIT and PDGFRα inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The FDA granted Priority Review for the NDA, which provides for a six-month review, and assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of August 13, 2020.
“The FDA’s acceptance of our NDA brings us one step closer to our goal of providing patients with advanced GIST a potential new treatment option,” said Steve Hoerter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Deciphera. “With commercial preparations already underway, we believe we will be well positioned for a potential U.S. launch in 2020. We look forward to working with the FDA during their review of this application.”
Priority Review designation is for drugs that, if approved, would be significant improvements in the safety or effectiveness of the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of serious conditions when compared to standard applications. Under the PDUFA, a Priority Review targets a review time of six months compared to a standard review time of ten months. The FDA previously granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for ripretinib for the treatment of patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. BTD is designed to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat a serious condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.
The NDA is being reviewed by the FDA under the Oncology Center of Excellence Real-Time Oncology Review (RTOR) pilot program. This pilot program aims to explore a more efficient review process to ensure that safe and effective treatments are available to patients as early as possible, while maintaining and improving review quality. Additional information about RTOR can be found at: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/oncology-center-excellence/real-time-oncology-review-pilot-program.
In addition, the Company has submitted additional marketing applications in Canada and Australia for ripretinib in advanced GIST. These submissions are part of the FDA’s Project Orbis pilot program and both received Priority Review designations. The Project Orbis pilot program, an initiative of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence, is designed to provide a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology products among international partners. Additional information about Project Orbis can be found at: https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/oncology-center-excellence/project-orbis.
The NDA submission is supported by positive results from the Company’s INVICTUS pivotal Phase 3 study of ripretinib in advanced GIST. INVICTUS is a randomized (2:1), double-blind, placebo-controlled, international, multicenter study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ripretinib compared to placebo in 129 patients with advanced GIST whose previous therapies have included at least imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. As previously reported, the study achieved its primary endpoint of improved progression free survival compared to placebo in patients with fourth-line and fourth-line plus GIST, as determined by blinded independent central radiologic review using modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1.
About Ripretinib
Ripretinib is an investigational tyrosine kinase switch control inhibitor that was engineered to broadly inhibit KIT and PDGFRα mutated kinases by using a unique dual mechanism of action that regulates the kinase switch pocket and activation loop. Ripretinib is currently in clinical development for the treatment of KIT and/or PDGFRα-driven cancers, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST, systemic mastocytosis, or SM, and other cancers. Ripretinib inhibits initiating and secondary KIT mutations in exons 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, and 18, involved in GIST, as well as the primary exon 17 D816V mutation involved in SM. Ripretinib also inhibits primary PDGFRα mutations in exons 12, 14, and 18, including the exon 18 D842V mutation, involved in a subset of GIST. Ripretinib has been granted Fast Track Designation and Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA for the treatment of patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. The FDA also granted Priority Review for the NDA for ripretinib, and assigned a PDUFA target action date of August 13, 2020. In addition, ripretinib has been granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of GIST by the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA). For more information about the Company’s clinical trials with ripretinib, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has an exclusive license agreement with Zai Lab (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of ripretinib in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). Deciphera Pharmaceuticals retains development and commercial rights for ripretinib in the rest of the world.
About Deciphera Pharmaceuticals
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of cancer patients by addressing key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and/or durability of response to existing cancer therapies. Our small molecule product candidates are directed against an important family of enzymes called kinases, known to be directly involved in the growth and spread of many cancers. We use our deep understanding of kinase biology together with a proprietary chemistry library to purposefully design compounds that maintain kinases in a “switched off” or inactivated conformation. These investigational therapies comprise tumor-targeted agents designed to address therapeutic resistance causing mutations and immuno-targeted agents designed to control the activation of immunokinases that suppress critical immune system regulators, and agents designed to inhibit reprogramming of cancer cell metabolism. We have used our platform to develop a diverse pipeline of tumor-targeted, immuno-targeted, and metabolism-targeted product candidates designed to improve outcomes for patients with cancer by improving the quality, rate, and/or durability of their responses to treatment.
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