Ono Pharmaceutical subsidiary Deciphera Pharmaceuticals has dropped an early-stage candidate for advanced cancers from its pipeline.
DCC-3084, a pan-RAF inhibitor, “is no longer in our pipeline and we are currently not planning additional development at this time,” a Deciphera spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech on Tuesday. The decision was made for strategic reasons and unrelated to the asset’s safety or efficacy, they explained.
“Given that it was such an early-stage program, employees working on it were simply reassigned to another program and there were no layoffs,” the spokesperson added.
The molecule was in an open-label phase 1/2 study for multiple types of solid tumor driven by the MAPK pathway, both as a monotherapy and in combination with other drugs. The now-terminated trial kicked off in May 2024 and enrolled 29 total patients, according to the federal clinical trial database.
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Japanese drugmaker Ono acquired Deciphera for $2.4 billion in mid-2024, gaining the already approved gastrointestinal cancer med Qinlock and the rare tumor drug vimseltinib, which was later approved as Romvimza.
Even with DCC-3084 sent to the scrap heap, Deciphera still boasts a packed pipeline led by BTK inhibitor tirabrutinib and antisense oligonucleotide sapablursen.
Tirabrutinib was discovered by Ono and is approved in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as Velexbru. The candidate is currently being considered for FDA approval in relapsed or refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma, with a decision expected by Dec. 18. Deciphera is now running a phase 3 confirmatory trial in the indication.
Sapablursen, meanwhile, was licensed by Ono from Ionis Pharmaceuticals for $280 million upfront in March 2025. Ionis shared positive phase 2 data for the oligo in polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, at the American Society of Hematology meeting last December. Deciphera expects to launch a phase 3 trial for sapablursen this year.
