16 August 2019 - - US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: DCPH) has launched a registered underwritten public offering of USD 200m in shares of its common stock, the company said.

In addition, Deciphera intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to USD 30m in shares of its common stock.

J.P. Morgan, Piper Jaffray and Jefferies are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Deciphera plans to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund: clinical trials for ripretinib, including the expansion stage of its current Phase 1 clinical trial, its ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials, and additional clinical trials, as well as clinical research outsourcing and manufacturing of clinical trial material, and pre-commercialisation manufacturing process development and validation; clinical trials for DCC-3014, including the expansion stage of its current Phase 1 clinical trial, as well as clinical research outsourcing and manufacturing of clinical trial material; clinical trials for rebastinib, including its current Phase 1b/2 clinical trial, as well as clinical research outsourcing and manufacturing of clinical trial material; Investigational New Drug-enabling studies and the potential development of DCC-3116; new and ongoing research activities for future drug candidates using its proprietary kinase switch control inhibitor platform; continued growth of its commercial and medical affairs capabilities to support its transition from a development-stage company toward a commercial-stage company; and working capital purposes, including general operating expenses.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of cancer patients by 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 an important family of enzymes called kinases, known to be directly involved in the growth and spread of many cancers.

The company uses 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, such as macrophages.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals used its platform to develop a pipeline of tumor-targeted and immuno-targeted drug candidates.