Lantern Pharma gets FDA nod for LP-284 clinical trial in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), a trailblazer in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for targeted cancer therapies, has received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational new drug (IND) application concerning LP-284. The cutting-edge drug is being developed for relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and double hit lymphoma (DHL) among other high-grade B-cell lymphomas (HGBL). Lantern Pharma expects to begin enrolling patients for the Phase 1 clinical trial of LP-284 in Q4 2023.

Leveraging AI to Speed Up Drug Development

Lantern Pharma’s President and CEO, Panna Sharma, emphasized that this marks the second FDA IND clearance the company has received in just 100 days. “This validates our AI and ML-driven approach to expediting the drug development pipeline,” said Panna Sharma. He added that LP-284 has blockbuster potential and was developed in an efficient and cost-effective manner—less than 2.5 years and under approximately $2.7 million. This highlights the power of Lantern Pharma’s proprietary AI platform, RADR, in accelerating oncology drug discovery and development.

Mechanism of Action and AI-Driven Insights

LP-284 is a novel small molecule developed using Lantern Pharma’s RADR AI and ML platform. Its synthetically lethal mechanism preferentially targets cancer cells with mutations in DNA damage repair pathways. RADR’s machine-learning capabilities were pivotal in understanding LP-284’s mechanism of action, streamlining cancer indications, and generating machine-learning biomarker signatures for future clinical trials.

Addressing a Critical Healthcare Challenge

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the leading hematological malignancy in the U.S and a significant cause of cancer deaths globally, with approximately 500,000 new cases each year worldwide. Despite advances, 20-40% of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients relapse after treatment, and nearly all patients with aggressive forms like MCL relapse from standard-of-care therapies. Lantern Pharma estimates LP-284’s annual market potential in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to be around $4 billion globally, affirming its commitment to harnessing AI and ML for life-saving cancer treatments.