Full Press Release Details
Pharma Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Business Highlights
- (Business Wire) - Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), an artificial intelligence ("AI") company developing
targeted and transformative cancer therapies using its proprietary RADR AI and machine learning ("ML") platform
with multiple clinical-stage drug programs, today announced operational highlights and financial results for the first quarter 2024,
ended March 31, 2024.
company made meaningful progress across multiple clinical trials and in furthering our AI platform this past quarter while advancing
our internal capabilities to both support data-driven, precision oncology trials and accelerate the cost-effective development of drug-conjugates.
Our team is at the forefront of demonstrating how combining emerging AI technologies, cancer biology and biomarker expertise along with
focused clinical operations holds the promise of transforming timelines and costs in biopharma development." said Panna Sharma,
President and CEO of Lantern Pharma.
continued, "Over the past several months, we have experienced growing interest in machine-learning enabled drug development and,
in our RADR, AI platform. Our team is energized by the growing desire to adopt and leverage AI-driven innovations in
biopharma and in the meaningful progress we are making with our own drug-candidates. We are excited about the opportunities we have in
front of us to drive increased collaborations on our AI platform this year, and also propel the streamlined development of our own portfolio
of high-value, high-impact drug-candidates."
of AI-Powered Pipeline:
company believes that enrollment should be complete this summer and on-track for a readout of data in late summer or early fall. Current
efforts are underway to focus enrollment efforts on cancer patients with tumors that have DDR(1) (DNA damage repair) deficiency.
DDR deficient tumors have been observed to have higher sensitivity to LP-184. The company has also submitted a dose optimization and
expansion protocol (Supplement A) to the FDA related to LP-184 in non-CNS solid tumors, including TNBC (triple negative breast
cancer) with DDR alterations. Additionally, the company in collaboration with Starlight Therapeutics, has also submitted to the FDA a
dose optimization and expansion protocol in recurrent IDH wild-type high grade gliomas (Supplement B).
dosage and safety data obtained in the Phase 1a and 1b trials are expected to be used to advance the central nervous system (CNS) indications
for a future Phase 2 trial to be sponsored by Lantern's wholly owned subsidiary, Starlight Therapeutics. The Phase 1a data
will also inform other anticipated later phase trials in select solid tumors, most likely with genomic signatures signifying DDR (DNA
damage repair) deficiency, that have shown responsiveness to LP-184. Genomic identification of these patients and biomarker characterization
of their underlying tumor is central to our focus of personalizing treatment and developing efficient later stage clinical trials. To
further this effort, Lantern has also initiated the development of a PCR-based molecular diagnostic test that may help in identifying
cancer patients with the best likelihood of response and benefit from treatment with LP-184.
and preclinical studies are ongoing to further refine drug combination studies supporting the use of LP-184 to improve the durability
or overall response rates in combination with FDA approved drugs that are widely used in cancer treatment. Globally, the aggregate annual
market potential of LP-184's target indications is estimated to be approximately $12+ billion, consisting of $4.5+ billion for
CNS cancers and $7.5+ billion for solid tumors.
Yashushi Goto, a physician and researcher focused on lung cancer at the National Cancer Center of Japan, will be leading the phase 2
trial in Japan, where the incidence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in never-smokers is double or more than that of the United
States. Lantern believes that this improves the positioning for drug-candidate LP-300 to develop collaborative and co-development partnerships
with global biopharma companies with a primary focus in serving the Asian markets.
Harmonic trial is assessing the effect of LP-300 in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy (carboplatin and pemetrexed) in LCINS
patients with relapsed NSCLC. Globally, LCINS patients are a growing population of patients and do not respond well to PD-1/PD-L1-based
therapies or the available chemotherapy doublets, leaving them with reduced treatment options. In the US it is estimated that LP-300
has an annual market potential of $1.5 billion, and a global estimated annual market potential of over $2.6 billion. LCINS is the eighth
leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the USA and the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.(2)
Platform Growth and Development:
scope of RADR 's data has broadened with a strategic focus on additional classes of compounds, including drug-conjugates such
as ADCs and inclusion of detailed data on chemical and biochemical features and drug-interaction data. Additionally, data from clinical
studies such as those being obtained from liquid biopsy, and data from preclinical combination studies that aim to define drug interaction
and optimal dosage are being incorporated into the datapoints and data sets powering RADR . Lantern expects to pursue
additional biopharma and technology partnerships during 2024 to further advance and commercialize the RADR AI platform.
Q4 of 2023 Lantern announced that it had hired a CMO, Dr. Marc Chamberlain, who will focus on Starlight's clinical trials, development
of personnel to execute on the planned clinical trials and overall support in corporate development activity. Starlight and Lantern expect
to initiate Phase 1b/2 clinical trials during the second half of 2024. The market potential for the currently planned indications for
Starlight's synthetically-lethal, cancer-cell DNA damaging agent - STAR-001 - is estimated to be 4.5 billion to 5+
billion USD across both adult and pediatric primary and secondary CNS cancers.
& Drug Conjugate Programs:
Lantern has advanced its AI module for differentiated, machine-learning based ADC development, characterization, analysis and bioactivity
prediction. The ADC module is being developed as an extension to RADR and leverages the data and biomarker insights curated
by and generated in RADR . Lantern has plans to further advance the development through partnerships and collaborations
with both technology and biopharma companies.
Operational Highlights:
Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights
Sheet: Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were approximately $38.4 million as of March 31, 2024, compared to approximately
$41.3 million as of December 31, 2023. The quarterly cash burn rate continues to reflect our capital-efficient, collaborator-centered
Expenses: Research and development expenses were approximately $4.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, compared to approximately
$2.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. This increase was largely driven by an increase in clinical trial activity and clinical
trial site activations.
Expenses: General and administrative expenses were approximately $1.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, compared to approximately
$1.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Loss: Net loss was approximately $5.4 million (or $0.51 per share) for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, compared to a net loss of
approximately $3.9 million (or $0.36 per share) for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Exercises: Lantern issued 20,132 shares of common stock during Q1 2024, relating to the cashless exercise of warrants to purchase
79,021 shares. Also, in Q1 2024, Lantern issued 17,481 shares of common stock for aggregate proceeds of approximately $55,000, relating
to the exercise of warrants for cash. Following these exercises, there remain 81,496 warrants outstanding to purchase Lantern common
stock at a weighted average exercise price of $16.55 per share.
Call and Webinar Details:
Lantern will host its 1st quarter 2024 earnings call and webinar today, May 9, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. ET. A link to register can be accessed
at: Lantern 1st Quarter 2024 Earnings Call & Webinar Link
| Related presentation materials will be accessible at: https://ir.lanternpharma.com | ||
| A replay of the 1st quarter 2024 earnings call and webinar will be available at: https://ir.lanternpharma.com |
| (1) | DDR genomic alterations of interest for the non-CNS solid tumor trials include but are not limited to BRCA1, BRCA2, PTEN, PRKDC, ATR, POLE, ERCC6, FANCM, DDB1, PSME4, SLX4, POLR2B, POLD1, MLH3, MDC1. Additional genomic alterations might be considered or included based on emerging data. | |
| (2) | LoPiccolo, J., Gusev, A., Christiani, D.C. et al. Lung cancer in patients who have never smoked - an emerging disease. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 21 , 121-146 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-023-00844-0 | |
| (3) | Berger, K., Turowski, B., Felsberg, J. et al. Age-stratified clinical performance and survival of patients with IDH-wildtype glioblastoma homogeneously treated by radiotherapy with concomitant and maintenance temozolomide. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 147 , 253-262 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03334-3 |
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) platform, RADR , 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 that span multiple cancer indications, including both solid tumors and blood cancers 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
2-3 years and at approximately $1.0 - 2.5 million per program.
lead development programs include a Phase 2 clinical program and multiple Phase 1 clinical trials. We have also established a wholly-owned
subsidiary, Starlight Therapeutics, to focus exclusively on the clinical execution of our promising therapies for CNS and brain cancers,
many of which have no effective treatment options. Our AI-driven pipeline of innovative product candidates is estimated to have a combined
annual market potential of over $15 billion USD and have the potential to provide life-changing therapies to hundreds of thousands of
cancer patients across the world.
find more information at:
| Website: www.lanternpharma.com | ||
| LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lanternpharma/ | ||
| X: @lanternpharma |
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;