19 April 2018 - - US-based tumor drug resistance-focused company Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has presented updated data from its ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of DCC-2618, the company's broad spectrum KIT and PDGFRα inhibitor, in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) in a poster session at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in Chicago, the company said.
The poster titled "Pharmacokinetic, safety, and tolerability profile of DCC-2618 in a phase 1 trial supports 150 mg QD (once daily) selected for a pivotal phase 3 trial in gastrointestinal stromal tumors " includes an assessment of the safety and tolerability profile of DCC-2618 in 100 GIST patients treated at the recommended Phase 2 dose of 150 mg QD, which supports the selection of this dose for the ongoing pivotal, randomized Phase 3 INVICTUS study.
DCC-2618 is a KIT and PDGFRα kinase switch control inhibitor in clinical development for the treatment of KIT and/or PDGFRα-driven cancers, including gastrointestinal stromal tumors, systemic mastocytosis and glioblastoma multiforme. DCC-2618 was specifically designed to improve the treatment of GIST patients by inhibiting a broad spectrum of mutations in KIT and PDGFRα.
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company tackling key mechanisms of drug resistance that limit the rate and/or durability of response to existing cancer therapies. Its small molecule drug candidates are directed against kinases, known to be directly involved in the growth and spread of many cancers.
The company designs 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, such as macrophages.