On February 15, 2022 Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ: LTRN), a Dallas-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company using its proprietary artificial intelligence ("A.I.") platform to transform the cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and development, reported that it is expanding opportunities for its portfolio of drug candidates and A.I. drug discovery platform into additional rare pediatric cancers through a collaboration with The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute (GCCRI) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) (Press release, Lantern Pharma, FEB 15, 2022, View Source [SID1234608104]). GCCRI is one of only two research institutions in the United States focused exclusively on pediatric cancer research and therapy development.

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The research collaboration will focus on further validating findings from RADR regarding the effectiveness of Lantern’s LP-184 and LP-284 in genomically-defined pediatric cancers, including several without any effective therapeutic approach. The collaboration will initially leverage GCCRI’s pediatric tumor research models and knowledge base to advance Lantern’s drug candidate, LP-184, for the treatment of rare pediatric cancers including rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, MRT (malignant rhabdoid tumor), Wilms tumor, and ATRT (atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor). The National Cancer Institute describes several of these tumor types to have limited treatment options available, and many of these tumors continue to progress after standard therapy.

"Transforming the pace at which we develop new therapies for pediatric and rare cancers requires that we make constant use of data, advanced approaches and models, and machine learning to maximize the therapeutic potential of our portfolio. This collaboration with Dr. Houghton and his lab will help us potentially validate multiple new pediatric indications and also generate insights that may lead to new therapies, and all of this is being done at a fraction of the cost of traditional drug development." says Lantern Pharma’s, President and CEO, Panna Sharma.

About the GCCRI and Dr. Houghton
The GCCRI is one of two research institutions in the United States solely dedicated to pediatric cancer research, with a mission to advance scientific knowledge in childhood cancers and to accelerate this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. The research collaboration between Lantern Pharma and the GCCRI will be led by Dr. Peter Houghton, the former director of the GCCRI. Dr. Houghton has dedicated his career to developing scientific approaches to the understanding and treatment of pediatric cancers including sarcomas, low-grade gliomas, and ATRTs.

In response to the research collaboration, Dr. Houghton commented, "The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute is excited to partner with Lantern Pharma to test LP-184, a novel agent, to evaluate its antitumor activity against a broad range of preclinical pediatric models of sarcoma and to further its pediatric cancer development plan. The success of current therapies for treating advanced cancers in children is limited due to the development of drug resistance and a lack of novel agents. One of the main goals of GCCRI is to identify novel drugs that can be advanced to pediatric cancer trials. We have developed the most comprehensive preclinical models of pediatric solid tumors and leukemias to facilitate testing new agents and their clinical development."

An integral component of Dr. Houghton’s research success has been the development and use of Patient-Derived Xenografts (PDX), which are clinically relevant cancer models that allow researchers to test novel therapeutics – such as LP-184 – in-vivo, and to directly study how tumors respond to treatment. Based on in-silico studies conducted by Lantern Pharma using the RADR platform, LP-184 and LP-284 have the potential to address multiple pediatric cancers.

In January of 2022, Lantern Pharma announced that it had received Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease designations for its experimental drug candidate LP-184 for the treatment of pediatric patients with ATRT, an aggressive and rapidly growing cancer of the central nervous system occurring primarily in children under 3.

International Childhood Cancer Research Day and ATRT
The announcement of the collaboration between Lantern Pharma and the GCCRI comes on International Childhood Cancer Research Day (ICCD). ICCD shines a spotlight on the over 400,000 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer around the world each year. Cancer is the leading cause of childhood deaths, with a child dying of cancer every three minutes. Improving outcomes for these pediatric patients will require a global effort to provide more accurate diagnoses, innovative and effective treatment options, and community participation and support. This is especially true for children diagnosed with rare and ultra-rare cancers that have limited clinical research information and few to no treatment options available.

One such cancer is ATRT, which is a type of neurological tumor that primarily affects children under three. These clinically aggressive tumors have a median survival of 6-12 months and a low 5-year survival rate of 30%. The National Cancer Institute estimates that there are 600 living patients with ATRTs and 60 newly diagnosed cases each year. There is no standard of care treatment for children diagnosed with ATRTs, and patients have an imperative need for novel therapeutics to treat this cancer.

Lantern’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Kishor Bhatia stated, "International Childhood Cancer Day reminds us of both success in our abilities to fight pediatric cancer – as much as 80% are treatable – as well as existing gaps in this fight. Although many solid tumors in children are treatable, sub-groups with refractory tumors and poor prognosis require development of novel strategies as do several rare pediatric cancers. Our collaboration with GCCRI is particularly focused on addressing this gap and accelerating our path to targeted pediatric cancer trials."

Recent Developments with LP-184
Lantern Pharma’s drug candidate LP-184 is a synthetic small molecule drug that preferentially damages DNA in cancer cells overexpressing specific biomarkers. LP-184 is currently in preclinical development for certain genomically-defined solid tumors, including ATRT, glioblastomas, and pancreatic cancer. In addition to potential use as a monotherapy, LP-184 has potential to be used as a synergistic agent in combination with other drugs. The collaboration between Lantern Pharma and the GCCRI will expand LP-184’s development focus into additional pediatric cancers, and will examine opportunities for LP-184 as a mono- or combination therapy.

In early 2022, Lantern Pharma announced that it had received Rare Pediatric Disease and Orphan Drug Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Lantern’s drug candidate LP-184 for the treatment of pediatric patients with ATRT. In obtaining these designations and establishing its collaboration with the GCCRI, Lantern Pharma is aiming to progress LP-184 for ATRT into a clinical trial in late 2022. In addition to these recent FDA designations, LP-184 has also been granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of malignant gliomas and pancreatic cancer.