Lantern Pharma Inc. announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the investigational new drug (IND) application for LP-284. LP-284 is being developed for the treatment of relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL), including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and double hit lymphoma (DHL) and other high-grade B-cell lymphomas (HGBL). Lantern expects to commence enrollment of patients for the first-in-human Phase 1 trial for LP-284 during the fourth quarter of 2023.

LP-284 is a novel small molecule with a synthetically lethal mechanism of action that preferentially damages cancer cells that harbor mutations in DNA damage repair pathways. Lantern?s LP-284 program has been accelerated and focused using AI insights and biological modeling powered by RADR®. NHL is the leading hematological malignancy in the US and remains one of the leading causes of cancer deaths globally, with an estimated 500,000 new cases annually worldwide.

Despite advances in NHL using combination and targeted therapies, nearly 20% to 40% of patients with certain subtypes still relapse after treatment. In aggressive subtypes of NHL, like MCL, nearly all patients relapse from standard-of-care (SOC) therapies. Globally, the annual market potential of LP-284 in NHL is estimated to be approximately $4 billion.