Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ:LTRN) outlined progress across its oncology pipeline and artificial intelligence platforms, highlighting three drugs in clinical trials, more than 100 patients dosed and a planned expansion of its AI business through Open-Medicine AI.
During a company presentation, Lantern said its drug-development approach centers on its RADR artificial intelligence platform, which the company uses to identify potential cancer therapies, biomarker-defined patient groups and combination-treatment opportunities. The company said it has accumulated more than 250 billion data points from cancer studies and has approximately 100 patents issued or pending.
Clinical Pipeline and Biomarker Strategy
The company said it has three molecules currently in clinical trials and recently cleared three additional studies to begin: a triple-negative breast cancer, or TNBC, study; an investigator-initiated bladder cancer trial in Denmark; and a pediatric central nervous system cancer trial cleared by the FDA.
Lantern said its clinical development strategy focuses on precision-medicine approaches, selecting patients based on biomarkers associated with a drug’s mechanism of action. It said its AI analysis identified SMARCB1 loss and PTGR1 as important factors for LP-184, which is now also called zirdafulven.
For LP-184, Lantern said it observed about a 50% disease-control rate in an adult Phase 1A trial and is preparing further studies in TNBC, bladder cancer, glioblastoma and pediatric CNS cancers. The company said the starting dose in those planned studies is 0.39 mg/kg, a level it described as safe based on prior testing.
Lantern said it has Fast Track designations in TNBC and glioblastoma. It also stated that approximately 60% to 70% of patients in those cancers have high PTGR1 levels. In preclinical TNBC models, the company said LP-184 showed activity including in models resistant to PARP inhibitors, and it said the drug demonstrated synergy in combination with PARP inhibitors and immune-oncology checkpoint inhibitors.
The bladder cancer study in Denmark is being conducted using two biomarkers, PTGR1 and DNA damage repair deficiency, according to the company. Lantern described it as the only bladder cancer trial using that dual-biomarker approach.
LP-300 Phase 2 Results and Next Steps
Lantern’s LP-300 is being studied in the Phase 2 HARMONIC trial in Taiwan and the United States. The trial focuses on never-smokers with lung cancer carrying the L858R mutation.
The company said evaluated patients had progression-free survival of about 8.9 months and reported that 10 of 14 evaluated patients experienced tumor shrinkage. The group included one complete response, partial responses and stable disease, Lantern said, with no evaluated patient experiencing disease progression. The company also said some responses lasted more than two years.
Lantern said it is enrolling the next group of 15 patients and will increase the maximum treatment duration from six cycles to eight cycles. It said it plans to pursue accelerated approval based on the data and has begun discussions with potential regional licensing partners in Asia.
The company said Asia is an important region for the LP-300 program because lung cancer among never-smokers with the L858R mutation occurs at a higher rate in some Asian populations. It is currently enrolling patients in Taiwan.
Pediatric and AI Platform Plans
Lantern also discussed its pediatric oncology program for LP-184, which is organized around a brain-cancer-focused program called STAR-001. The company expects to launch an ATRT trial early next year through the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, or PNOC. Lantern said the majority of that study is expected to be paid for by PNOC, a consortium involving 10 groups including Stanford.
The company said LP-184 reaches brain tumors and showed increased preclinical activity when administered with spironolactone. Lantern said the combination was approximately three to six times more active in brain tumor models.
Beyond its internal RADR platform, Lantern said it launched withZeta.ai as a subscription platform for cancer researchers and drug developers. It said Open-Medicine AI, a company wholly owned by Lantern, is intended to expand the platform beyond oncology and make it available to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, service providers, banks and funds.
Lantern said more than 100 drugs have been developed on the platform and that it has several dozen subscribers. The company said it expects Open-Medicine AI to be its next spinout while Lantern continues operating as a drug developer.
Financial Position and Upcoming Catalysts
Lantern said its quarterly cash burn is about $3.5 million and that spending declined 25% in the most recent quarter while the company was cleared to begin three new trials. The company reported having approximately $7.4 million at the end of the second quarter, followed by two financings totaling $8.4 million.
Based on those resources, Lantern said it expects to have cash into the second or third quarter of next year. The company identified upcoming milestones including additional LP-300 data, potential regional licensing agreements, enrollment of the first patient in the TNBC trial, launches of bladder and CNS studies, and potential outside financing for Open-Medicine AI.
About Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ:LTRN)
Lantern Pharma, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on using artificial intelligence, machine learning and genomic data to discover and develop precision cancer therapies. The company’s approach is designed to identify patient populations most likely to respond to a therapy, with the goal of improving drug-development efficiency and treatment outcomes.
Lantern’s technology platform, known as RADR, analyzes large datasets from clinical studies, scientific literature and other sources to support drug discovery, biomarker identification and clinical-trial design.
