Deciphera Pharmaceuticals is another step closer to relocating its growing Lawrence operations into the East Hills Business Park.

Deciphera this week won approval from the Kansas Bioscience Authority for $3.5 million in assistance. The money is set to help the company buy and upgrade a building at East Hills and move ahead with plans for hiring another 125 to 175 employees, spending up to $10 million for capital improvements and attracting another $20 million in private investments – all during the next five years.

The incentives package calls for Deciphera, by year’s end, to apply for a building permit outlining planned upgrades for the 68,000-square-foot building in the business park. Once the permit is approved, the company would have 10 days to close on its $2.475 million purchase of the building, financed by money from the authority and its local counterpart, the Lawrence-Douglas County Biosciences Authority.

Deciphera, now operating out of labs and offices at Bob Billings Parkway and Wakarusa Drive, develops technology to fight cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and other disorders by preventing cell malfunction.

The company recently closed a round of private financing that attracted $30 million, said Chad Bettes, a spokesman for the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“They’re ramping up quick,” Bettes said. “They’re attracting all kinds of private investment. There are a lot of people interested in the life-saving cures they’re developing.”

The company is considered an important part of the community’s effort to retain and attract bioscience companies. The package of incentives has received approval from Lawrence and Douglas County commissioners, the Lawrence-Douglas County Biosciences Authority and Douglas County Development Inc.

“This is a very positive sign, and we certainly appreciate the KBA’s support and investment in our community and this project,” said Lavern Squier, president and chief executive officer of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

The Kansas Bioscience Authority has agreed to contribute $1.5 million to Deciphera for its building purchase and other improvements, plus up to another $500,000 in performance grants, which the company will receive as it reaches certain employment targets.

The authority also is contributing another $1.5 million to the project, to cover – up front – the investment from the Lawrence-Douglas County Biosciences Authority, which plans to pay the money back to the Kansas Bioscience Authority during the next 10 years using tax money set aside by Lawrence and Douglas County commissioners. The local authority also plans to give Deciphera up to $500,000 as the company reaches employment targets.

Discussion of the incentives package by Lawrence city commissioners during at least one executive session is the subject of an investigation by the Kansas Attorney General’s office, which is following up on complaints that the package and some of its components – including a tax rebate that is similar to a property-tax abatement – should have been fully discussed in public.