Deciphera raises $52M in series C

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals LLC (Waltham, Mass.) raised $52 million in a series C round led by Viking Global Investors, Redmile Group and Sphera Global Healthcare Fund. Existing investor New Leaf Venture Partners also participated.

Using its platform, Deciphera is developing kinase inhibitors that bind to a region on kinases that the company calls a switch pocket. Binding this pocket keeps the kinase in an "off" state, regardless of mutation status. According to Deciphera, other kinase inhibitors do not target switch pockets (see BioCentury, Sept. 28, 2015)...