DALLAS, Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lantern
Pharma (NASDAQ: LTRN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical
company using its proprietary RADR® artificial
intelligence ("A.I.") platform to transform the cost, pace, and
timeline of oncology drug discovery and development, today
announced it has expanded its collaboration agreement with the
Developmental Therapeutics Branch (DTB) of the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health. The expansion
of this collaboration comes after identifying several gene
signatures that predict a potential response of a patient's tumor
to Lantern's drug candidates, LP-184 and LP-284. LP-184 is being
pursued as a new therapy across a range of genetically defined
solid tumors, including pancreatic cancer and GBM (Glioblastoma
Multiforme). LP-184 was presented as a novel agent effective in
GBM at SNO (Society of Neuro-Oncology) in November of 2021. LP-284
is being developed as a new therapy for certain leukemias and
lymphomas as presented for the first time in December at the 2021
ASH Annual Meeting.
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"This expanded collaboration with the NCI is further evidence of
the power of combining multiomic data with our A.I. platform,
RADR®, to accelerate the cost-effective and biomarker
guided development of targeted oncology therapies," stated Dr.
Kishor Bhatia, Chief Scientific
Officer of Lantern Pharma. "We look forward to publishing our first
in human Phase 1 results in peer-reviewed publications and bringing
our potential cancer therapies to patients through the power of
A.I. and data."
The first phase of the collaboration with the DTB Genomics and
Pharmacology Facility at NCI successfully identified biomarker
correlations from multiomic NCI datasets that will be used to guide
the accelerated development of Lantern's drug candidates. The
biomarker correlations are being used for LP-184 and LP-284 to: 1)
uncover insights into the mechanisms of action 2) develop a
signature predicting the response of a tumor, 3) prioritize the
sub-types of cancer most likely to respond in a manner that would
improve the current standard of care and, 4) generate data and
models to guide the selection of other approved drugs that can be
used in combination with LP-184 and LP-284.
The second phase of the collaboration will leverage the data and
functionality provided by NCI's complementary CellMiner™ and
CellMinerCDB platforms to examine additional multiomic data for
more accurate and powerful drug response correlation. This phase
will also include data from Project Achilles at the Broad
Institute, which is integrated into the CellMiner™ platform,
to compare how Lantern's complete drug candidate portfolio compares
with other anti-cancer drugs under specific genetic and molecular
conditions. The additional data and expanded analytic
toolbox, including epigenetic, proteomic and microRNA data
types, will enable Lantern to further refine multiomic signatures
predictive of drug efficacy into a curated list of candidate
biomarkers. These biomarkers can be utilized in gene editing and
CRISPR technology studies to derisk development decisions and
validate additional therapeutic strategies. Lantern will be using
this rigorous approach to guide future development initiatives for
itself and for potential development and commercial partners.
"The data generated from this collaboration will further advance
and scale the capabilities of the RADR® A.I. platform
for potentially breakthrough drug discovery and development,"
stated Panna Sharma, CEO of Lantern
Pharma. "The new data will drive insights and drug-candidate
innovations and also lead to additional biopharma collaboration and
partnership opportunities."
Lantern and the NCI expect to publish the research results of
this collaboration in peer-reviewed journals. Early data indicates
the uniqueness of the correlation of LP-184 with PTGR1 expression
compared to other therapeutic agents in the database. Gene
correlation comparisons between LP-184 and other DNA targeting
agents support LP-184's potential as a more effective drug
candidate in tumors that show resistance to other DNA targeting
agents, including synthetic lethal agents.
The data types in the NCI datasets included, DNA mutation, mRNA/
miRNA expression, DNA methylation, DNA copy number and protein
data. This data was then used to characterize Lantern's pipeline of
drug candidate and their bioactivity profiles through NCI's
CellMiner™ platform. These multiomic analyses have provided
deeper insights into the mechanism of action, efficacy profile and
optimal cancer indications for Lantern's pipeline of drug
candidates in preclinical and clinical development. This analysis
has aided in the accelerated development of the DNA damaging agents
LP-184 and LP-284. Initial work helped identify several hundred
genes whose transcript levels significantly correlated both
positively and negatively with pan-cancer sensitivity to LP-184.
Additional correlations were found for LP-284 that aided in
targeting subsets of blood cancer indications. The expression of
PTGR1, which was among the strongest correlations, reinforced a
critical component underlying LP-184 sensitivity and was further
validated in vitro and in vivo across several
tumors.
Several negatively correlated genes confirmed the enhanced
LP-184 sensitivity in tumors that harbor compromised DNA repair
pathways. For example, the negative correlation of LP-184
sensitivity with methylation of MGMT substantiate the potential for
higher sensitivity of LP-184's efficacy in MGMT methylated tumors -
an important therapeutic refractory feature in glioblastomas. The
availability of multiomic data such as methylation data and protein
data continue to support areas of applicability of such
correlations.
LP-184 is being developed for multiple targeted oncology
indications. Lantern Pharma intends to further advancing LP-184 as
a new, potent treatment option in genetically defined subsets of
patient populations in areas of high unmet clinical need, including
pancreatic cancers, GBM, and other cancers that are DNA damage
repair deficient. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
granted LP-184 Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of
pancreatic cancer and GBM and other malignant gliomas in
August 2021. LP-284 is expected to be
developed for multiple hematological indications, including several
rare sub-types of leukemia and lymphoma.
About Lantern Pharma
Lantern Pharma (LTRN) is a
clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company
leveraging its proprietary RADR® A.I. platform and
machine learning to discover biomarker signatures that identify
patients most likely to respond to its pipeline of genomically
targeted therapeutics. Lantern is currently developing four drug
candidates and an ADC program across eight disclosed tumor targets,
including two phase 2 programs. By targeting drugs to patients
whose genomic profile identifies them as having the highest
probability of benefiting from the drug, Lantern's approach
represents the potential to deliver best-in-class outcomes. More
information is available at: www.lanternpharma.com and Twitter
@lanternpharma.
About RADR®
RADR® or
Response Algorithm for Drug Positioning &
Rescue, is Lantern's proprietary integrated A.I. platform
for large-scale biomarker and drug-tumor interaction data analytics
that leverages machine-learning. RADR® is
used to provide mechanistic insights about drug-tumor interactions,
predict the potential response of cancer types and subtypes to
existing drugs and drug candidates, and uncover patient groups that
may respond to potential therapies being developed by Lantern and
its collaborators.
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 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 that use words such as "anticipate,"
"believe," "contemplate," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"seek," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project,"
"target," "objective," "aim," "upcoming," "should," "will,"
"would," or the negative of these words or other 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 impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, (ii) the risk that our research and the research of
our collaborators may not be successful, (iii) the risk that none
of our product candidates has received FDA marketing approval, and
we may not be able to successfully initiate, conduct, or conclude
clinical testing for or obtain marketing approval for our product
candidates, (iv) the risk that 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 (v)
those other factors set forth in the Risk Factors section in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on March 10,
2021. You may access our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2020 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.
CONTACT:
IR@lanternpharma.com
1.628.777.3339
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SOURCE Lantern Pharma