This is the story about the one that didn’t get away.

Lawrence economic development leaders on Tuesday were praising actions by the Kansas Bioscience Authority to provide $6 million in funding to prevent the start-up drug development company Deciphera Pharmaceuticals from leaving Lawrence.

“It is huge that we didn’t lose this company to Kansas City,” said Beth Johnson, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. “We believe this shows other companies that as a community we can offer them what they need.

“They don’t need to presume that they need to go to a larger community.”

The $6 million in KBA funding will allow Deciphera to move from its 9,000-square-foot western Lawrence facility into 25,000 square feet of vacant space in the East Hills Business Park. The authority approved the funding at its annual meeting Tuesday at the Overland Park Convention Center.

The deal previously had been announced, but not formalized. Deciphera’s board of directors must officially approve the deal, but Deciphera President and CEO Daniel Flynn said that likely would happen in the next several weeks.

Growth prospects

Deciphera, which operates on the former Oread Labs campus near Bob Billings Parkway and Wakarusa Drive, has grown from a start-up company to 26 employees since opening in Lawrence in 2003.

Flynn said the larger facility is a sign that the company has plans to grow its workforce, which is mainly made up of pharmacists and scientists. Flynn said the company is working on collaborating with a major pharmaceutical company to develop new cancer drugs. Flynn said the company’s staff could reach 50 employees or more in the next one to two years.

The KBA at its meeting on Tuesday authorized up to $1 million worth of incentives for the company if its workforce grows to 200 people.

The $6 million in funding ultimately will require an investment from Lawrence taxpayers. As previously approved, the city and the county have both agreed to reimburse the KBA $1 million each over the next 10 years. Douglas County Development Inc. – the nonprofit organization that runs the East Hills Business Park – has agreed to repay the KBA $500,000 over 10 years. The Lawrence Bioscience Authority also has agreed to repay the KBA $500,000 over 10 years.

The $6 million in funding will be used by the KBA to purchase the vacant building. Deciphera will lease 25,000 square feet of the 68,000-square-foot building, which has been empty since economic development leaders built it along Kansas Highway 10 several years ago to attract new business to town. The remaining 43,000 square feet in the building will be available for other businesses to lease.

Part of the $6 million in funding will be used to finish the interior of the building. Another $500,000 will be used to build laboratory space in the building.

Economic development leaders were touting the laboratory part of the plan as an additional selling point they can use to attract other bioscience companies to the area.

Flynn said Deciphera had considered relocating to Johnson County, as several Lawrence start-up companies have done over the last decade. But he said the incentives, along with Lawrence’s status as a university town, made company leaders strongly consider keeping the company in Lawrence.

“With it being a university town, we think it is going to be a great place to recruit scientific professionals to come to work and live,” Flynn said.

Deciphera is working to develop several cancer-fighting drugs. Flynn said he expects the company to announce in the next several months the beginning of clinical trials – one of the key steps toward Food and Drug Administration approval – for at least one drug.

Other investments

The KBA also approved several other investments at its annual meeting Tuesday. The authority:

â Approved a $1.5 million grant to the city of Manhattan to help aid the community in its efforts to attract the Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Laboratory from Laramie, Wyo. The U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory likely would employ about 30 high-paying scientists and support workers who study the role insects play in spreading disease, said Ron Trewyn, vice provost of research for Kansas State University. The $1.5 million would be used by the city to retrofit an existing building for the laboratory to use while a permanent facility is built. No timeline for a decision on the possible move has been announced.

â Finalized the KBA’s investment in a 90-acre campus for K-State in Olathe. The KBA agreed to provide $5.6 million to $6.8 million in funding to build infrastructure such as roads and sewers on the Olathe property. Infrastructure is expected to be built in the next 24 months.

â Confirmed that a company is interested in a 30-acre site in the business park that would be adjacent to the new K-State Olathe campus. The company, which wasn’t identified, would create 215 new jobs, and would invest $35 million in the project.

â Agreed to provide $300,000 over a 10-year period to the city of Emporia for the development of a biodiesel plant in that community. Investors in Emporia are working to build a $65 million biodiesel plant in the community that would produce about 60 million gallons of biodiesel per year, and employ about 30 people.

â Agreed to provide $150,000 in funding to KC BioMediX, a company that is developing technology to help care for infants who are born prematurely. The technology – which involves a device to help premature infants develop their sucking skills – was developed at Kansas University.

â Provided $130,000 in funding to OsteoGeneX to help the company work with KU on developing a new treatment for osteoporosis.