Substantial clinical benefit of Qinlock in second-line GIST

USA-based tumor drug resistance specialist Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: DCPH) saw its shares close down 2.7% at $15.94 yesterday, after it announced findings of a planned exploratory analysis of data from the INTRIGUE Phase III clinical study of Qinlock (ripretinib) using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from a subgroup of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) previously treated with imatinib who harbor mutations in KIT exon 11 and 17/18 only.

Qinlock was approved for the treatment of GIST by the US Food and Drug Administration in May 2020 and has been cleared for marketing in several other countries.

“We are extremely pleased by the exploratory analysis showing that Qinlock, already the standard of care for fourth-line GIST patients, provided substantial clinical benefit to this subgroup of second-line patients compared to sunitinib [Pfizer's Sutent]. We look forward to presenting additional data from the overall ctDNA analysis at a medical meeting later this month,” said Dr Matthew Sherman, chief medical officer of Deciphera.