Lantern Pharma Inc. announced the company has published new findings in Oncotarget demonstrating drug candidate LP-284's in vitro and in vivo antitumor potency for multiple non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and double-hit lymphoma (DHL). In mouse MCL xenograft tumors that had grown resistant to either bortezomib or ibrutinib, subsequent LP-284 treatment at 4 mg/kg led to near-complete tumor regression, whereas control-treated tumors continued to grow uncontrollably. LP-284's antitumor potency can be enhanced when combined with the FDA-approved agent spironolactone.

Treatment of multiple myeloma cells with LP-284 + spironolactone led to a 2.4 fold decrease in IC-50 when compared to LP-284 treatment alone. Combined, these new in vitro and in vivo results for LP-284 strongly support its anti-tumor activity for NHLs, including advanced MCL tumors that have grown resistant to SOC agents. Based on the potential of LP-284 for MCL, Lantern was granted an FDA Orphan Drug Designation for LP-284 in MCL.

On average, newly developed drug programs have been advanced from initial AI insights to first-in-human clinical trials in 2-3 years and at approximately $1.0-2.0 million per program.