Financing to Support Development of Precision Oncology Treatments
Driven by Advanced Genomics, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Today Lantern
Pharma Inc. announced the closure of its Series A equity financing
of $3.7 million for the biotech company and its clinical-stage cancer
treatments. This Series A closing was led by Bios Partners, GPG Ventures
and other private investors. Lantern Pharma Inc. is a clinical-stage
biotech focused exclusively on accelerating the cancer drug approval
process using big data and artificial intelligence.
Lantern’s strategy focuses on identifying partners or acquiring
late-stage clinical drugs that show efficacy in a small number of
patients. These abandoned drugs are ‘rescued and repurposed’ using
molecular profiling to identify the patients who respond favorably to
treatment. Responding patients are screened for a biomarker, stratified
and treated in a narrow scope of clinical trials. This process of
targeting certain genomic profiles creates truly targeted therapies and
addresses a significant unmet need in the cancer market.
The company will use the funds from the financing to continue
development of its two lead drug candidates and further the advancement
of its big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform. The company’s
lead clinical-stage drug candidate Tavocept® (LP-300) has previously
shown clinical efficacy in a sub-set of non-small cell lung cancer
patients in combination regimens. Its second program LP-184 has
demonstrated promising early anti-tumor activity for multiple solid
tumors, especially gynecologic tumors, and a favorable safety profile,
and has the potential to be a best-in-class product. Lantern has
identified predictive biomarkers for both Tavocept and LP-184 using its
proprietary techniques combining advanced genomics, big data and
AI-based algorithms.
“Oncology compounds have undergone tremendous advancements in design,
but have lacked the systematic analysis leveraging big data and
precision trial design and testing, which has led to inefficient
processes and lackluster approval rates,” said Dr. Arun Asaithambi,
co-founder and CEO of Lantern Pharma. “At Lantern we are developing
targeted biomarker panels that can precisely sub-type patients based on
the ability to be responsive to a treatment. Then by incorporating that
into the selection and testing process, we can save years and tens of
millions of dollars, thereby making treatments more personalized and
accessible. We believe this will lead to better outcomes, efficient and
faster drug development.”
“Using genomic testing, Lantern is able to pinpoint the right cancer
patients who would respond the best for the company’s drug," said Dr.
Clay Heighten, co-founder of Green Park & Golf. "Due to molecular
profiling, the treatment costs less to develop and can get to the
patients faster.”
Since its inception, Lantern has followed a lean business model and has
rapidly developed and commercialized its programs through out-licensing
and collaborative partnerships. Lantern out-licensed its first program
Irofulven-1 for a total of up to $20M to a European pharma company.
Additionally, Lantern was issued an $800,000 collaborative ICIP grant
funding. Recently, the company initiated collaborations with genomics
diagnostic leaders, Cancer Genetics Inc, for genomic data access,
laboratory testing and analysis services. The company will work closely
with AI leader Intuition Systems to bring additional AI, big data
analysis, cloud support and infrastructure to support drug development
and biomarker identification.
“Lantern Pharma is developing an innovative, biomarker-based approach to
identify patients who will most benefit from particular cancer
therapies,” said Dr. Stella Robertson, co-founder of Bios Partners. “We
are pleased to be a part of Lantern’s efforts to improve patient care
and therapeutic outcomes.”
For more information on Lantern’s work, please visit www.lanternpharma.com.
About Lantern Pharma Inc.
Lantern Pharma is a biotech company aiming to re-invent the cancer drug
development process by tailoring promising drug programs to the right
cancer patients through biomarker discovery. Lantern leverages advanced
genomics and machine learning based artificial intelligence (AI) to
identify and significantly reduce the cost and overall risk profile of
new therapies compared to traditional drug development. Lantern
currently has three clinical stage candidates in its pipeline:
Tavocept®, a phase 2 clinical candidate; LP-184, currently being
prepared for biomarker based clinical trials; and Irofulven-1, which has
been licensed out to a later stage pharma company focused for further
development. For additional information on the company, please visit its
website at www.lanternpharma.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170502006511/en/
Lantern Pharma, Inc.
Arun Asaithambi, PhD, 515-231-2065
arun@lanternpharma.com
Source: Lantern Pharma Inc.
Released May 2, 2017