Lantern progresses toward diagnostic for LP-184 for oncology clinical trials use

Lantern Pharma announced a significant advancement towards the development of a diagnostic for its drug candidate LP-184. The diagnostic is currently based on qRT-PCR technology and is focused on quantifying the amount of PTGR1 RNA in patient tumor samples to assess the potential for sensitivity to Lantern’s drug candidate LP-184. The company plans to further develop and validate the assay for its use as a potential tool for patient selection in later stage clinical trials across a broad range of solid tumors that have shown sensitivity to LP-184.Lantern has successfully confirmed PTGR1 as a key biomarker that it intends to use to optimize patient selection based on potential tumor sensitivity to the drug candidate LP-184. LP-184 is a precision oncology drug candidate with the potential to address multiple solid tumors. This confirmation marks a crucial step towards the development of a companion diagnostic and potential stratification tool to assist with targeted patient selection. Lantern plans on further validations and development of the assay using qRT-PCR and partnering with central labs and cancer centers for eventual use in patient selection and stratification. In a key publication on the utility and value of biomarkers in oncology trials among some of the most common cancers, titled Does biomarker use in oncology improve clinical trial failure risk? A large-scale analysis by Parker, et al., 2021 in Cancer Medicine found success of clinical trials to be significantly correlated to the incorporation of biomarkers. In particular, the Parker, et al. publication stated that: “…Our overall analysis of these four cancers, independent of indication, revealed a fivefold benefit of hazard ratios from the Markov models, suggesting a substantial benefit from biomarker use. The hazard ratio analysis of the Markov biomarker models examined how likely clinical trial success was associated with biomarker use versus no biomarker use.