On March 30, 2026 Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary RADR artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platform to transform the cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and development, reported operational highlights and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 ended December 31, 2025, and provided an update on its portfolio of AI-driven drug candidates and AI platforms, RADR and withZeta.ai.
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"2025 was a defining year for Lantern Pharma as we achieved clinical validation across multiple programs while establishing the foundation for our next phase of growth," said Panna Sharma, CEO & President of Lantern Pharma. "The encouraging and developing LP-300 Phase 2 HARMONIC observations, combined with successful Phase 1a completion for LP-184 and FDA IND clearance for our pediatric CNS cancer program through Starlight Therapeutics, represent transformational milestones that validate and strengthen our AI-driven approach to precision oncology. Our full-year results reflect disciplined execution with a 19% reduction in total operating expenses year-over-year, even as we advanced multiple clinical programs through key inflection points and introduced a highly unique multi-agentic system aimed at conquering rare cancers. As we move into 2026, we are positioning to advance multiple high-value clinical programs, expand our RADR platform’s commercial reach and revenue potential globally through our new AI Center of Excellence in India and strengthen our balance sheet."
Clinical Pipeline Developments
Lantern’s AI-driven clinical pipeline encompasses multiple drug candidates across solid tumors, blood cancers, and pediatric oncology, with a combined estimated annual market potential exceeding $15 billion. The portfolio includes a Phase 2 clinical program (LP-300), multiple programs advancing toward Phase 1b/2 trials (LP-184), an ongoing Phase 1 trial in hematologic malignancies (LP-284), and a planned Phase 1 pediatric CNS cancer trial (STAR-001) through Starlight Therapeutics. Each program has been guided by the RADR platform’s AI-driven insights. 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.
LP-300 HARMONIC Trial: Continued Progress and Strategic Momentum
The Phase 2 HARMONIC trial continued to advance through the fourth quarter and into early 2026, with ongoing patient enrollment and follow-up across clinical sites in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. The trial evaluates LP-300 in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapy (carboplatin + pemetrexed) in never-smokers with NSCLC adenocarcinoma who have progressed after tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy.
Key Milestones:
● Japan Enrollment Completed: In July 2025, Lantern completed targeted enrollment in Japan ahead of schedule across five clinical sites including the National Cancer Center Tokyo, validating the company’s strategic expansion into regions with significantly higher rates of never-smoker NSCLC.
● Data Presented at JLCS: During Q4 2025, clinical investigators presented data from the ongoing HARMONIC trial at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Japan Lung Cancer Society, including results from both Asian and U.S. patient cohorts.
● Safety Lead-In Results: The trial has previously demonstrated encouraging results in its initial safety lead-in cohort, showing an 86% clinical benefit rate and 43% objective response rate among the first seven patients enrolled in the United States, including one patient who achieved a durable complete response in target cancer lesions with survival continuing for nearly two years.
● Enrollment Progress: The trial continues to enroll patients in Taiwan, where more than 50% of lung cancer cases occur in never-smokers, and across U.S. sites.
● FDA Engagement — Type C Meeting: In March 2026, Lantern submitted a Type C meeting package to the FDA regarding the ongoing Phase 2 HARMONIC study. The meeting, currently scheduled for mid-May 2026, seeks FDA feedback and concurrence on proposed protocol amendments to the study.
The proposed amendments to the HARMONIC study include: (i) focusing future enrollment to patients with EGFR exon 21 L858R mutation (a subtype of tyrosine kinase mutations); (ii) increasing the maximum number of LP-300 treatment cycles from six to eight; and (iii) converting the current randomized study design to a Phase 2 single-arm Simon two-stage study by discontinuing enrollment into the control arm. The proposed amendments are supported by a preliminary analysis of study data suggesting that patients with the EGFR exon 21 L858R mutation may derive greater clinical benefit from the LP-300 triplet regimen; the evolution of the treatment landscape for TKI-refractory NSCLC that has made continued randomization to the control arm increasingly challenging; and historical safety data indicating that up to eight cycles of LP-300 at the current dose level did not alter the established safety profile of the drug. There can be no assurance that the FDA will concur with the proposed amendments, and any changes to the study protocol will be subject to FDA review and clearance during and after the Type C meeting planned for mid-May.
Lantern is actively exploring collaboration and partnering opportunities both globally and regionally to maximize LP-300’s commercial potential in multiple geographies. Additional clinical data updates from the HARMONIC trial are expected in the first half of 2026.
Never-smoker NSCLC is increasingly recognized as a distinct disease entity with unique clinical and genomic characteristics, representing a global market opportunity estimated at over $4 billion annually. Currently, there are no therapies specifically approved for never-smoker NSCLC patients.
LP-184: Phase 1a Completion and Advancement Toward Phase 1b/2 Trials
In Q4 2025, Lantern reported additional positive LP-184 Phase 1a results showing durable disease control in heavily pre-treated advanced cancer patients as the company is positioning to advance its precision oncology program into multiple biomarker-guided Phase 1b/2 trials. The Phase 1a trial (NCT05933265), which enrolled 63 patients, achieved all primary endpoints with a 48% clinical benefit rate at or above the therapeutic dose threshold and provided further confirmation of LP-184’s unique mechanism of action.
Key Phase 1a Highlights:
● Biomarker Validation: Marked tumor reductions observed in patients with DNA damage repair mutations including CHK2, ATM, BRCA1, and STK11/KEAP1 alterations, validating RADR-driven insights regarding the mechanism of LP-184.
● Recommended Phase 2 Dose: Successfully established RP2D of 0.39mg/kg with favorable safety profile.
● Activity in Difficult-to-Treat Cancers: Notable clinical benefits in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), and thymic carcinoma.
Phase 1b/2 Development Plans (subject to additional funding):
● Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC): Phase 1b/2 study targeting a potential annual market exceeding $4 billion.
● NSCLC with STK11/KEAP1 Co-mutations: Biomarker-guided study, potential annual market approaching $1.5 billion.
Investigator Led Study:
● Bladder Cancer: Investigator-led clinical study planned to initiate in Denmark in PTGR1 overexpressing bladder cancers with DNA damage repair mutations.
Starlight Therapeutics: FDA IND Clearance for Pediatric CNS Cancer Trial
In early 2026, the FDA cleared the IND for Starlight Therapeutics’ planned Phase 1 pediatric CNS cancer trial of STAR-001 (LP-184) in Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) and other rare pediatric cancers. STAR-001 has received both Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for ATRT, along with additional designations for hepatoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and malignant rhabdoid tumors.
These designations provide potential pathways for FDA Priority Review Vouchers (PRVs) upon a potential approval. PRVs have historically been sold or transferred for significant value, with recent transactions in the range of $100 million to $150 million or more, representing a potentially meaningful source of non-dilutive value for Lantern and its shareholders independent of the commercial potential of the underlying therapy. The Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for ATRT, hepatoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and malignant rhabdoid tumors each independently qualifies for a potential PRV upon potential FDA approval and meeting other program conditions.
LP-284: Orphan Drug Designation and Clinical Advancement
In Q1 2026, LP-284 received FDA Orphan Drug Designation for soft tissue sarcomas, adding to existing designations for mantle cell lymphoma and high-grade B-cell lymphomas. In Q4 2025, Lantern presented clinical data at the 25th LL&M Congress showcasing a confirmed complete metabolic response in a heavily pretreated DLBCL patient. LP-284 benefits from composition of matter patents providing protection through 2039 in the majority of the major medicine markets (USA, EU, Japan, China, India, Mexico, Korea, and Australia).
RADR AI Platform: Global Expansion and Commercial Momentum
AI Center of Excellence in India
In early 2026, Lantern announced the initiation of an AI Center of Excellence in India to industrialize and grow the RADR platform, the withZeta.ai system and accelerate global development opportunities with biopharma companies looking to leverage AI as a service.
withZeta.ai: Market Opportunity, Scaling Strategy, and Vision
The withZeta.ai platform is architected to first address the unique challenges of rare cancer drug development, where fragmented data, small patient populations, and limited institutional knowledge have historically made therapeutic development economically and scientifically prohibitive. By aggregating and structuring insights across 438+ rare cancers into a unified AI co-scientist framework, withZeta.ai provides pharmaceutical and biotech researchers with capabilities that would otherwise require large, specialized teams and years of manual analysis.
Lantern’s longer term plan is to scale withZeta.ai beyond rare cancers into broader oncology indications and, subsequently, into rare diseases and other therapeutic areas through revenue generating collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. The platform’s multi-agentic architecture is designed to be extensible — the same collaborative AI agent framework that powers rare cancer insights can be configured and trained to address drug development challenges across neurology, immunology, metabolic diseases, and other complex therapeutic areas where data fragmentation and scientific complexity represent significant barriers to R&D productivity.
The global rare disease therapeutics market is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2028, and the broader pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing and AI-enabled drug discovery market represents an additional multi-billion-dollar opportunity. Lantern believes that withZeta.ai is positioned at the intersection of these high-growth markets, with a differentiated offering that combines proprietary oncology data, validated AI algorithms, and a practical co-scientist user experience designed for bench scientists and clinical development teams.
"2026 can be a critical year for the commercialization of our AI platforms to support broad-based drug development and scientific productivity in R&D," said Mr. Sharma. "We are building for a future where AI co-scientists are commonplace in knowledge work across the pharmaceutical and biotech industries — augmenting human expertise, accelerating discovery timelines, and dramatically improving the economics of drug development. We believe this represents a potential near-term market opportunity of $20 to $50 billion, and withZeta.ai is our first agentic-based commercial product designed to capture a meaningful share of that market. The early engagement from a broad range of organizations in our beta program validates both the demand and the differentiation of our approach."
Other AI Platform Highlights
● predictBBB.ai: 94.1% accuracy for blood-brain barrier permeability prediction; five of top eleven positions on the Therapeutic Data Commons Leaderboard. This tool has been significantly enhanced to encompass a wider range of molecular and structural analysis aimed at molecules and medicines.
● LBx-AI Liquid Biopsy: 86% accuracy for predicting treatment response in NSCLC; 0.76 Pearson correlation for PD-L1 level inference from ctDNA.
R&D Investment by Program (Full Year 2025):
For the year ended December 31, 2025, our approximate research and development costs by project were: LP-300 ($4.6M), LP-184 ($4.3M), LP-284 ($1.2M), RADR Platform ($1.0M), and other programs ($0.4M), totaling approximately $11.5 million.
(Press release, Lantern Pharma, MAR 30, 2026, View Source [SID1234664023])