- Lantern, in collaboration with academic research partners, has
advanced the development, synthesis, and preclinical
proof-of-concept of a novel, highly potent, cryptophycin-based
ADC.
- The cryptophycin ADC has shown picomolar potency in a wide
range of solid tumors tested in preclinical development and is
being further evaluated for clinical potential in six solid tumor
indications.
- The company has leveraged RADR®, a proprietary AI platform for
oncology drug development, for target selection and molecular
payload characterization in ADCs, and a unique, controlled
conjugation approach for maximizing drug-to-antibody ratios while
controlling for non-specific conjugation.
- Lantern expects to move towards IND development of the ADC
program during 2024 with a focus on select solid tumors that are
unresponsive or refractory to current therapies.
- ADCs are a promising and emerging class of cancer therapy that
are expected to generate over $24 billion in revenue by 2030 and
have been the focus of several recent M&A transactions among
emerging biotech companies and global pharmaceutical
companies.
Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), a leader in AI-driven cancer
drug discovery and development, announced an important milestone in
its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program. In collaboration with
Bielefeld University, Lantern has generated a new class of highly
specific and highly potent ADCs with a cryptophycin
drug-payload.
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Preclinical results from Lantern's
cryptophycin ADC (Cp-ADC) in HER2 expressing cancers in comparison
with commercially available MMAE payload antibody-drug conjugates
(ADCs). (Graphic: Business Wire)
This novel approach utilizes cysteine-engineered antibodies
which allows for the development of uniform and homogenous ADCs
with precise control of the drug to antibody ratio (DAR). The
drug-payload, cryptophycin, has the potential to improve upon
existing ADCs used in the clinical setting by: 1) improving the
anti-tumor potency of the ADC molecule, and 2) overcoming drug
resistance tumors can frequently develop to existing drug-payloads
such as MMAE (Monomethyl auristatin E). The cryptophycin
drug-payload and cryptophycin-ADC (CpADC) averaged an 80% cancer
cell kill rate across the tested cancer cell lines and
significantly outperformed MMAE.
In a broad range of preclinical studies, the cryptophycin-ADC
(Cp-ADC) demonstrated promising picomolar level potency and
anti-tumor activity in a wide range of solid tumors, including six
cancer indications that are being further evaluated. These six
indications include: breast, bladder, colorectal, gastric,
pancreatic and ovarian cancer. Initial results (Figure 1) have also
shown that in high Her2 expressing tumors, Cp-ADC with a DAR of 8
(Tras(C8)-Cp) and DAR of 4 (Tras(C4)-Cp) is more potent than an
MMAE ADC with a DAR of 8. MMAE payloads are used in several
commercially available anti-cancer ADCs, including Adcetris®,
Polivy® and Enhertu®. Additionally, the Cp-ADC with a lower DAR
(Tras(C2)-Cp) provides an equivalent tumor kill-rate to that of an
MMAE-ADC with a DAR of 8. In a moderate Her2 expressing cell line,
the Cp-ADC with a DAR of 8 (Tras(C8)-Cp) was about 10 times more
potent than a DAR 8 MMAE-ADC.
Figure 1: EC-50 of the free cryptophycin and trastuzumab
conjugated cryptophycin was evaluated alongside the trastuzumab
conjugated MMAE (with the same linker) in cell lines with both
High and Moderate HER2 expression levels. A lower
EC-50 indicates a more potent drug, molecule or substance, meaning
it needs a smaller dose to achieve the same effect.
The newly developed Cp-ADC showed highly efficient anti-tumor
activity in all six cancer cell lines with EC-50 values in the
picomolar to single-digit nanomolar range. Additional studies are
now being developed to further validate and expand these findings
and to obtain a better understanding of the genomic and biomarker
correlates of payload efficacy across these tumors.
Kishor Bhatia, Ph.D., Lantern’s Chief Scientific Officer
commented, "Our strategic, data-driven approach of utilizing
cryptophycin as a highly potent and novel payload alongside the
prioritization of biologically novel and relevant targets with
scalable and efficient drug conjugate formats will help expand the
repertoire and diversity of ADC opportunities."
Lantern is also utilizing its AI platform, RADR® to further
refine and understand other cancer targets, with a focus on
prioritizing targets that are expressed across multiple tumor types
or subtypes and have few or no therapeutic ADC options. Given the
promise of cryptophycin as a payload, Lantern is also focused on
the development and testing of two other cryptophycin-ADC
molecules. For these selected targets, Lantern is in advanced
discussions with potential partners and collaborators with the goal
of generating proof-of-concept data for these additional ADCs and
potentially other novel drug conjugate formats. Lantern expects to
provide additional details on these studies and collaborations in
the coming quarters. These efforts aim to improve ADC development
for specific patient populations and potentially guide more
effective future clinical treatments with less cost and greater
efficiency than historical ADC drug development.
About Lantern Pharma:
Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ: LTRN) is an AI company transforming the
cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and
development. Our proprietary AI and machine learning (ML) RADR®
platform leverages over 60 billion oncology-focused data points and
a library of 200+ advanced ML algorithms to help solve
billion-dollar, real-world problems in oncology drug development.
By harnessing the power of AI and with input from world-class
scientific advisors and collaborators, we have accelerated the
development of our growing pipeline of therapies including eleven
cancer indications and an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program. On
average, our newly developed drug programs have been advanced from
initial AI insights to first-in-human clinical trials in
approximately 2-3 years and at approximately $1.0-2.0 million per
program.
Please find more information at: Website:
www.lanternpharma.com LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/lanternpharma/ X: @lanternpharma
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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; expectations and estimates regarding clinical trial timing
and patient enrollment; 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 biomarker
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 patient populations, 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," "model," "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 risk that our research
and the research of our collaborators may not be successful, (ii)
the risk that promising observations in preclinical studies do not
ensure that later studies and development will be successful, (iii)
the risk that we may not be successful in licensing potential ADC
candidates or in completing potential partnerships and
collaborations, (iv) 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, (v) the risk
that no drug product based on our proprietary RADR® AI 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on March 20, 2023. You may access our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 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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