On September 22, 2026 Lantern Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRN), an AI‑driven precision oncology company transforming the cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and development, reported that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent Application No. 18/500,032, titled "Method for Treating Blood Cancers," with claims directed to the use of the company’s drug candidate LP‑284 to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), double‑hit lymphoma (DHL), and other blood cancers.

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The allowed claims cover methods of treating a subject diagnosed with blood cancer by administering an effective amount of LP‑284, when the cancer is mantle cell lymphoma or double‑hit lymphoma. Additional allowed claims cover the co‑administration of LP‑284 with a second anti‑cancer agent selected from: DNA damaging agents, glucocorticoids, immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), BCL2 inhibitors, Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, spironolactone, PARP inhibitors, and proteasome inhibitors. Additional claims also cover routes of administration including intravenous and intraperitoneal delivery. A Notice of Allowance is issued after the USPTO determines that prosecution on the merits of a patent application has concluded, and the patent grants upon payment of the required issuance fee.

"This Notice of Allowance marks an important step in building a durable, layered intellectual-property portfolio around LP‑284," said Panna Sharma, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lantern Pharma. "The anticipated patent claims cover the use of LP‑284 as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapeutic agent classes for mantle cell lymphoma and double-hit lymphoma, two aggressive B-cell lymphomas with significant unmet needs globally. Together with our composition-of-matter patent estate, this patent is expected to provide LP‑284 protection into 2042 and strengthen the program’s long-term commercial potential. Advancing LP‑284 from AI-generated insights through our RADR platform to a first-in-human clinical trial in less than three years demonstrates the potential of our precision approach to efficient, data-driven drug development for novel therapies."

Strengthening a Global LP‑284 Patent Estate

The newly allowed method‑of‑treatment patent builds on Lantern’s existing LP‑284 composition‑of‑matter estate, which provides protection into 2039 across major medicine markets, including the United States, European Union, Japan, China, India, Mexico, Korea, and Australia. Lantern received its first U.S. composition‑of‑matter Notice of Allowance for LP‑284 in April 2023, followed by a Certificate of Patent from the Japan Patent Office in June 2024 and a European Patent Office allowance in July 2025. Once issued, the "Method for Treating Blood Cancers" patent is expected to extend Lantern’s LP‑284 protection into 2042, adding a distinct layer of method‑of‑use protection on top of the underlying composition‑of‑matter rights.

Lantern intends to continue prosecuting additional patent applications directed to further indications, combination regimens, and formulations of LP‑284 to further strengthen its intellectual property portfolio.

LP‑284 — An AI‑Optimized, Next‑Generation Acylfulvene for Aggressive B‑Cell Cancers

LP‑284 is an investigational, next‑generation acylfulvene and the stereoisomer (enantiomer) of Lantern’s drug candidate LP‑184. It was optimized using Lantern’s proprietary RADR artificial intelligence platform, which identified its synthetically lethal mechanism targeting cancer cells with DNA damage repair (DDR) deficiencies. Unlike LP‑184, whose activity depends on the enzyme PTGR1, LP‑284’s cytotoxic activity is independent of PTGR1 expression, making it well suited to hematologic malignancies. LP‑284 induces DNA lesions that are primarily repaired by the transcription‑coupled nucleotide excision repair (TC‑NER) pathway, and its activity is retained in tumors deficient in ATM — a gene inactivated in an estimated 40%–50% of MCL patients — as well as regardless of TP53 mutation status or lymphoma surface antigen expression.

In preclinical studies, LP‑284 has demonstrated nanomolar potency across a panel of B‑cell non‑Hodgkin’s lymphoma models, with the highest potency observed in MCL cell lines, including lines resistant to standard‑of‑care agents. In data presented at the 2022 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) Annual Meeting, LP‑284 showed its lowest IC50 of 88 nM in the bortezomib‑resistant MINO MCL cell line and 193 nM in the ibrutinib/venetoclax‑resistant MAVER‑1 line, demonstrating activity even in models resistant to ibrutinib, bortezomib, venetoclax, and zanubrutinib. LP‑284 has also shown preclinical synergy with rituximab in high‑grade B‑cell lymphoma models, and combination with spironolactone enhanced sensitivity to LP‑284 by 2.4‑fold in a multiple myeloma cell line.

LP‑284 holds three FDA Orphan Drug Designations: for mantle cell lymphoma (granted January 2023), for high‑grade B‑cell lymphoma with MYC and BCL2 rearrangements (granted November 2023), and for soft tissue sarcomas (granted January 2026). These represent three of the six total Orphan Drug Designations granted across Lantern’s clinical pipeline.

Clinical Program

LP‑284 is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1a dose‑escalation clinical trial (NCT06132503) in patients with relapsed or refractory B‑cell non‑Hodgkin’s lymphomas and solid tumors. In 2025, Lantern reported that a heavily pretreated 41‑year‑old patient with aggressive Grade 3 non‑germinal center B‑cell diffuse large B‑cell lymphoma (DLBCL) — who had failed three prior state‑of‑the‑art treatment regimens, including CAR‑T cell therapy and a CD3xCD20 bispecific antibody — achieved a confirmed complete metabolic response after just two 28‑day cycles of LP‑284. To date, LP‑284 has been well tolerated, with primarily Grade 1–2 adverse events reported.

Market Opportunity and Unmet Need

MCL and DHL are aggressive B‑cell lymphomas characterized by high relapse rates and poor prognoses. Nearly all MCL patients acquire resistance to and relapse from standard‑of‑care therapies, and patients with double‑hit lymphoma face particularly poor outcomes following relapse. Lantern estimates that LP‑284 targets a global market estimated at $4 billion annually for blood cancers, driven by the rising incidence of non‑Hodgkin’s lymphoma globally, and has potential to address an estimated market that could improve outcomes for 40,000 to 80,000 blood cancer patients annually.

About LP‑284

LP‑284 is an investigational next‑generation acylfulvene designed to exploit synthetic lethal interactions in cancer cells with DNA damage repair deficiencies. Developed through Lantern’s RADR AI platform, LP‑284 induces DNA lesions primarily repaired by transcription‑coupled nucleotide excision repair (TC‑NER), creating a distinct anti‑tumor profile. The compound’s efficacy remains unaffected by TP53 mutation or lymphoma surface antigen expression, and preclinical studies demonstrate synergistic activity with rituximab and the ability to overcome ibrutinib resistance. LP‑284 is currently in Phase 1 evaluation (NCT06132503) and has received multiple FDA Orphan Drug Designations, including for mantle cell lymphoma, high‑grade B‑cell lymphomas, and soft tissue sarcomas.

(Press release, Lantern Pharma, SEP 22, 2026, View Source [SID1234670996])