DALLAS, Sept. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lantern
Pharma (Nasdaq: LTRN), a clinical-stage biopharma company using its
proprietary RADR® artificial intelligence ("A.I.")
platform to improve drug discovery & development and identify
patients who will benefit from its targeted oncology therapeutics,
today announced a collaboration and research agreement with Fox
Chase Cancer Center for the further development of Lantern's LP-184
in pancreatic cancer. Based in Philadelphia, Fox
Chase is a leading research center for pancreatic cancers
and one of the four original cancer centers to receive
comprehensive cancer center designation from the National Cancer
Institute (NCI).
The Fox Chase collaboration
will focus on advancing the targeted use of LP-184 in
molecularly-defined sub-types of pancreatic cancer. The goal of the
collaboration is to create a more biologically relevant and robust
gene signature in preparation for future clinical trials, enabling
pancreatic cancer patients to potentially benefit from a more
effective and personalized cancer therapy.
"Collaborations with world-leading cancer centers are an
essential part of our strategy to rapidly advance the insights
driving our therapeutic programs and grow our RADR® A.I.
platform by adding millions of new, unique, and proprietary data
points," said Panna Sharma, CEO of
Lantern Pharma. "This relationship with Fox Chase will allow us to use
state-of-the-art models and biological methods to add more
physiologically relevant data and insights into the mechanisms of
LP-184, and will further shape our algorithms for how certain
compounds interact with specific tumor types. The unique insights
we gain will equip Lantern with critical advantages in our aim of
accelerating LP-184's path to clinical trials and ultimately
commercialization, while saving millions of dollars in development
costs. This data-enabled, and biomarker-based approach has the
potential to meaningfully bend the cost curve of cancer drug
development and help bring personalized cancer therapies to
patients with reduced economic burden, and greater efficacy."
The research will be led by Igor
Astsaturov, MD, Ph.D., an internationally-recognized
researcher in gastrointestinal cancers at the Molecular
Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase
where he specializes in investigating signaling pathways that
inform the choice of biomarkers and innovative therapy combinations
in clinical trials. Dr. Astsaturov is known for his research in a
number of cancer indications spanning pancreatic, stomach, liver,
and several others, as well as his belief that each individual
cancer patient will soon be defined by the molecular makeup of
their cancer cells.
LP-184 is a DNA-damaging small molecule drug candidate currently
in preclinical development for certain genomically defined solid
tumors, including pancreatic cancer. As a next-generation
alkylating agent that preferentially damages DNA in cancer cells
that overexpress certain biomarkers, LP-184 has the potential to be
used as both monotherapy as well as a synergistic agent in
combination with other drugs.
"We are very pleased to partner with Lantern Pharma in
establishing a collaboration that will play an important role in
our research," said Igor Astsaturov,
MD, PhD, and Associate Professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology
at Fox Chase. "Our advanced
research approach using patient-derived cancer models will provide
us with critical insights into the efficacy of LP-184 in pancreatic
cancers. We look forward to sharing these results with the broader
scientific community and hopefully bringing this drug to cancer
patients that can best benefit from this compound."
The research program is at the forefront of translational cancer
medicine and will use patient-derived cancers that are grown in the
lab and transformed into physiologically relevant 3D organoids and
PDx models. This innovative approach allows researchers to more
precisely understand the biology of what actually happens inside
the cancer tumor, which will more accurately establish the precise
biomarker signatures and help provide data-driven insight into
additional mechanisms that can be leveraged in the fight against
pancreatic cancer.
Among several objectives, the research will determine whether
the overexpression of the gene PTGR1, a biomarker that has been
linked to cancer cell proliferation, will indicate heightened
sensitivity to LP-184 and a more favorable response rate and
efficacy as compared to standard of care agents. LP-184 has been
advanced using Lantern's proprietary RADR® A.I. platform
that leverages over 500 million data points, machine learning,
genomics, and computational biology to accelerate the discovery of
potential mechanisms of action, and genomic and biomarker
signatures that correlate to drug response in cancer patients.
Although significant recent advances have been made in the use
of targeted and biomarker-based therapies in cancer, pancreatic
cancer remains an area that has not experienced significant
improvement in patient outcomes. The overall five-year survival
rate for pancreatic cancer across all stages remains at only 10.0%
in the US and 8.2% globally, and pancreatic cancer is expected to
become the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in the USA in 2020 behind lung cancer according to
the National Cancer Institute's SEER Stat Database.
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, JD
Director, Investor Relations
628-777-3167
marek@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. The forward-looking statements in this press release
include, among other things, statements relating to: 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 any of our drug candidates; 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; 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 the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of our clinical trials, and the
impact of competition. Additional factors can be found 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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