- QINLOCK is the First Approved Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Designed Specifically for GIST Regardless of Patients’ Mutational Status -
- QINLOCK Approved via the U.S. FDA’s Project Orbis Initiative -
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 14, 2020-- Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCPH) today announced that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved QINLOCK™ (ripretinib), a switch-control tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have received prior treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. The QINLOCK Marketing Authorisation Application was approved by the TGA under Project Orbis, an initiative of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence designed to provide a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology products among international partners. QINLOCK is also approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of adult patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib, and authorized by Health Canada for the treatment of adult patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib.
“We would like to thank the team at the Therapeutic Goods Administration for their collaboration in the review and approval of QINLOCK in Australia,” said Steve Hoerter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Deciphera. “We believe that QINLOCK has the potential to transform the GIST treatment landscape and are committed to ensuring its global commercial availability.”
The TGA’s approval was based on efficacy results from the pivotal global Phase 3 INVICTUS study of QINLOCK in patients with advanced GIST as well as combined safety results from INVICTUS and the Phase 1 study of QINLOCK. In INVICTUS, QINLOCK demonstrated a median progression-free survival of 6.3 months compared to 1.0 month in the placebo arm and significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 85% (hazard ratio of 0.15, p<0.0001). In addition, QINLOCK demonstrated a median overall survival of 15.1 months compared to 6.6 months in the placebo arm and reduced the risk of death by 64% (hazard ratio of 0.36).
The most common adverse reactions (≥20%) were alopecia, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, constipation, myalgia, diarrhea, decreased appetite, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (PPES), and vomiting. Adverse reactions resulting in permanent discontinuation occurred in 8% of patients, dosage interruptions due to an adverse reaction occurred in 24% of patients and dose reductions due to an adverse reaction occurred in 7% of patients who received QINLOCK.
About QINLOCK (ripretinib)
QINLOCK is a switch-control tyrosine kinase 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. QINLOCK inhibits primary 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 systemic mastocytosis, or SM. QINLOCK also inhibits primary PDGFRα mutations in exons 12, 14, and 18, including the exon 18 D842V mutation, involved in a subset of GIST.
QINLOCK is approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of adult patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. It is also approved by Health Canada for the treatment of adult patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib and by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration for the treatment of adult patients with advanced GIST who have received prior treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib.
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is developing QINLOCK for the treatment of KIT and/or PDGFRα-driven cancers, including GIST, SM, and other cancers. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has an exclusive license agreement with Zai Lab (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of QINLOCK in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). Deciphera Pharmaceuticals retains development and commercial rights for QINLOCK in the rest of the world.
About GIST
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a cancer affecting the digestive tract or nearby structures within the abdomen, most often presenting in the stomach or small intestine. GIST is the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract, with approximately 4,000 to 6,000 new GIST cases each year in the United States and a similar incidence rate in European and other countries. Most cases of GIST are driven by a spectrum of mutations. The most common primary mutations are in KIT kinase, representing approximately 80% of cases, or in PDGFRα kinase, representing approximately 6% of cases. Current therapies are unable to inhibit the full spectrum of primary and secondary mutations, which drives resistance and disease progression. Estimates for 5-year survival range from 48% to 90%, depending on the stage of the disease at diagnosis.
About Deciphera Pharmaceuticals
Deciphera is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer. We are leveraging our proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform and deep expertise in kinase biology to develop a broad portfolio of innovative medicines. In addition to advancing multiple product candidates from our platform in clinical studies, QINLOCKTM is Deciphera’s FDA-approved switch-control kinase inhibitor for the treatment of fourth-line gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). QINLOCK is also approved for fourth-line GIST in Canada and Australia. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.deciphera.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, without limitation, our expectations regarding bringing QINLOCK to patients in Australia, our goal of making it globally available, the potential for QINLOCK to transform the GIST treatment landscape, and the potential benefit of QINLOCK to GIST patients. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “target” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to the severity and duration of the impact of COVID-19 on our business and operations, including, without limitation, commercial and clinical drug supply chain continuity and the commercial launch of QINLOCK, our ability to successfully demonstrate the efficacy and safety of our product candidates including in later-stage studies, the preclinical and clinical results for our product candidates, which may not support further development of such product candidates, our ability to manage our reliance on sole-source third parties such as our third party drug substance and drug product contract manufacturers, actions of regulatory agencies, our ability to commercialize QINLOCK and execute on our marketing plans for any drugs or indications that may be approved in the future, the inherent uncertainty in estimates of patient populations and incidence and prevalence estimates, competition from other products, our ability to obtain and maintain reimbursement for any approved product and the extent to which patient assistance programs are utilized, our ability to comply with healthcare regulations and laws, our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights, any or all of which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical studies and the timing of and our ability to obtain additional regulatory approvals, and make our investigational drugs and QINLOCK available to patients, and to derive revenue from product sales, and other risks identified in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, and subsequent filings with the SEC. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent our views only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. We explicitly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Deciphera, Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, QINLOCK, the Deciphera logo and the QINLOCK logo are trademarks of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005103/en/
Investor Relations:
Jen Robinson
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc
jrobinson@deciphera.com
781-906-1112
Media:
David Rosen
Argot Partners
David.Rosen@argotpartners.com
212-600-1902
Source: Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.