DALLAS and LA JOLLA, Calif., Jan.
4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lantern Pharma
(Nasdaq: LTRN), a clinical-stage biopharma company
using its proprietary RADR® artificial intelligence
("A.I.") platform to transform cancer drug development and identify
patients who will benefit from its targeted oncology therapeutics,
today announced that it will be launching the development of its
ADC (Antibody Drug Conjugate) program through an evaluation and
potential development agreement with Califia Pharma along with
other key internal development and computational initiatives.
Lantern will potentially leverage the patent-protected linker
library, conjugation processes and payloads, including its own DNA
damage causing compounds, LP-100 and LP-184, for development as
ADC-based therapies for a range of solid tumors and blood cancers.
In addition, Lantern intends to utilize its proprietary A.I.
platform, known as RADR®, to help determine the cancer
types, targets, and cancer biomarker signatures believed most
likely to respond to and benefit from this ADC approach. According
to industry analysts, the global antibody drug conjugate cancer
therapy market is expected to exceed $10
billion USD by 2026, and $15 billion
USD by 2030, driven by innovations in protein targeting,
linker technologies and conjugation processes.
ADCs bring together the ability to target specific antibodies on
specific cancer cells and then link that antibody targeting
capability to delivering specific potent molecules or toxic
payloads to the targeted cancer cell. ADCs are an emerging class of
highly potent drugs that have seen five FDA approvals over the last
two years.
"At Lantern we are focused on uncovering and accelerating new
advances that can make a meaningful impact on personalizing cancer
treatment and that can leverage our A.I. and data driven model for
precision cancer drug development. The Califia portfolio of
technologies and library of linkers has been meaningfully
progressed with a specific focus on the class of drugs represented
by LP-100 and LP-184. We believe that this optimization coupled
with our identification of cancer sub-types should enable us to
target very specific cancers quickly, creating the potential to
enter into clinical trials at a speed that we believe has not been
achieved in the ADC category," said Panna
Sharma, CEO of Lantern Pharma. ADCs can use the
specificity of antibodies and antigens to focus cytotoxic small
molecules on target cells "precisely" and then kill them based on
releasing the "payload" by designing and controlling the linker
element. "Pioneering development by Califia has yielded novel
linkers and chemistries that we believe have significantly improved
the therapeutic index of specific DNA damage compounds and
alkylating agents in early pre-clinical studies, and have also
minimized the manufacturing steps involved in conjugation of the
ADC structure," added Panna
Sharma.
"Working closely with innovators and world-leading drug
developers is an essential part of our strategy to leverage and
develop new platforms that can transform the timeline and
effectiveness of cancer drug development. By
implementing ADC approaches, we aim to offer cancer patients an
additional, highly-targeted platform that can make meaningful
contributions in advancing the personalization of treatment, while
also benefitting from synergies with our A.I. drug development
platform," continued Panna
Sharma.
The ADC program will begin immediately and initially focus on
evaluating Califia's novel, patented linker technologies with DNA
damaging small molecules, including LP-100 and LP-184, in select
solid tumors. Lantern also expects to use RADR® to
guide the selection and prioritization of certain tumors and cancer
subtypes and also to uncover cancer sub-types where there is
significant unmet patient need, especially in rare tumors and
orphan indications where there have not been recent meaningful
improvements in the standard of care. The ADC development program
is at the forefront of translational cancer medicine and will be
optimizing target indications and design during 2021, with the
intent to launch IND and clinical programs in 2022. Subject to
positive results of the evaluation and early development process,
Lantern expects to enter into a license(s) that cover the intended
target(s), payload(s) and linker(s) to be brought into the clinical
development process. This rapid approach is intended to be done in
collaboration with leading cancer research centers and will attempt
to also implement the use of precision medicine tools, such as
biomarker driven targeting and analysis, companion diagnostics, and
large-scale analytics to fully leverage the precision power of
ADCs.
About Lantern Pharma
Lantern Pharma (LTRN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company innovating the repurposing, revitalization and development
of precision therapeutics in oncology. We leverage advances in
machine learning, genomics, and artificial intelligence by using a
proprietary A.I. platform to discover biomarker signatures that
help identify patients more likely to respond to our pipeline of
cancer therapeutics. Lantern's focus is to improve the outcome for
patients by leveraging our technology to uncover, rescue and
develop abandoned or failed drugs. Our current pipeline of three
drugs, with two programs in clinical stages and two in preclinical,
focuses on cancers that have unique and unmet clinical needs with a
clearly defined patient population. We believe that the use of
machine learning, genomics and computational methods can help
accelerate the revitalization, refocusing and development of small
molecule-based therapies. By targeting drugs to patients whose
genomic profile identifies them as having the highest probability
of benefiting from the drug, this approach represents the potential
to deliver best-in-class outcomes. Our team seeks out experienced
industry partners, world-class scientific advisors, and innovative
clinical-regulatory approaches to assist in delivering cancer
therapies to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible. For
more information, please visit the company's website
at www.lanternpharma.com or follow the company on Twitter
@lanternpharma.
Contact:
Marek Ciszewski, J.D.
Director, Investor Relations
628-777-3167
investor@lanternpharma.com
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These forward-looking statements include, among other
things, statements relating to: future events or our future
financial performance; the potential advantages of our
RADR® platform in identifying drug candidates and
patient populations that are likely to respond to a drug candidate;
our strategic plans to advance the development of our drug
candidates and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) development
program; estimates regarding the development timing for our drug
candidates and ADC development program; our strategic plans to
expand the number of data points that our
RADR® platform can access and analyze; our research
and development efforts of our internal drug discovery programs and
the utilization of our RADR® platform to streamline
the drug development process; our intention to leverage artificial
intelligence, machine learning and genomic data to streamline and
transform the pace, risk and cost of oncology drug discovery and
development and to identify patient populations that would likely
respond to a drug candidate; estimates regarding potential markets
and potential market sizes; sales estimates for our drug candidates
and our plans to discover and develop drug candidates and to
maximize their commercial potential by advancing such drug
candidates ourselves or in collaboration with others. Any
statements that are not statements of historical fact (including,
without limitation, statements to the effect that Lantern Pharma
Inc. or our management "believes", "expects", "anticipates",
"estimates", "plans" (and similar expressions) should be considered
forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors
that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those
indicated by the forward-looking statements, such
as (i) the risk that our antibody drug conjugate
(ADC) development program may not be successful; (ii) the risk
that our evaluation of linkers, drug payloads and conjugation
processes from Califia may not yield meaningful results; (iii)
the risk that we may not license any linkers, drug payloads
and conjugation processes from Califia; (iv) the risk that we may
not be able to successfully initiate, conduct, or conclude clinical
testing for or obtain marketing approval for any ADC product
candidate; (v) no drug product based on our proprietary RADR
A.I. platform has received FDA marketing approval or otherwise been
incorporated into a commercial product, and (vi) those other
factors set forth in the Risk Factors section in our final
prospectus, dated June 10, 2020, for
our initial public offering, on file with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. You may access our June
10, 2020 final prospectus under the investor SEC filings tab
of our website at www.lanternpharma.com or on the SEC's
website at www.sec.gov. Given these risks and uncertainties,
we can give no assurances that our forward-looking statements will
prove to be accurate, or that any other results or events projected
or contemplated by our forward-looking statements will in fact
occur, and we caution investors not to place undue reliance on
these statements. All forward-looking statements in this press
release represent our judgment as of the date hereof, and, except
as otherwise required by law, we disclaim any obligation to update
any forward-looking statements to conform the statement to actual
results or changes in our expectations.
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SOURCE Lantern Pharma