Lantern Pharma enters AI-driven collaboration with Oregon Therapeutics

Lantern Pharma announced a strategic AI-driven collaboration with French biotechnology company, Oregon Therapeutics to optimize the development of protein disulfide isomerase, or PDI, inhibitor drug candidate XCE853 in novel and targeted cancer indications. Lantern will be leveraging its proprietary RADR AI platform to uncover biomarkers and efficacy-associated signatures of XCE853 across solid tumors that can aid in precision development. Collaborative efforts are expected to identify biomarker signatures that can be used to stratify tumors most responsive to XCE853 and guide potential future clinical development and patient selection. Oregon Therapeutics is developing XCE853 in various cancer indications, including drug-resistant ovarian and pancreatic cancer, certain hematological cancers and several pediatric cancers including CNS cancers. The collaboration focuses on the integration and interrogation of molecular, genetic and transcriptomic data pertaining to XCE853. This analysis will be powered by RADR and its growing library of over 60B data points from many diverse types of biological measurements and oncology experiments, as well as more than 200 ML algorithms focused on problems that are central to real-world cancer drug development. The initial objectives of the collaboration are to: uncover biomarkers and efficacy-associated gene signatures to guide in the eventual stratification and selection of patients for future clinical trials, identify tumor-based response and resistance mechanisms to XCE853 and strategies to overcome treatment resistance, and expand the use of XCE853 in additional therapeutic cancer indications for XCE853. Under the terms of the collaboration, Lantern Pharma is receiving equal IP co-ownership and drug development rights in newly discovered biomarkers, novel indications, and/or new pharmacological use strategies for XC853 and related analogues. Oregon Therapeutics is entitled to financial benefits resulting from the out licensing of the background IP to Lantern Pharma. Lantern Pharma and Oregon Therapeutics are both entitled to additional financial benefits resulting from the out licensing of any collaboration IP to a third party. No further financial details regarding the collaboration were disclosed.