Lantern Pharma Inc. announced that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) has issued a Certificate of Patent for patent application no. 2021-513267 /registration no. 7489966 directed to Lantern Pharma?s drug candidate LP-284 ((+)N-hydroxy-N-(methylacylfulvene)urea).

The Certificate of Patent entitled ?Illudin Analogs, Uses Thereof, and Methods for Synthesizing the Same? covers molecule LP-284, including claims covering the new molecular entity. A Certificate of Patent is issued after JPO examinations have confirmed the merits of a patent request.

Lantern values the broad protection this latest patent provides. Lantern previously received a similar patent on LP-284 from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in April 2023, with an expiry in early 2039. Lantern anticipates receiving similar or same patent rights for LP-284 in Europe, China, Australia, Canada, and Korea.

LP-284 has already seen significant success in its progress in the United States. In 2023, the FDA cleared an investigational new drug (IND) application for LP-284, and Lantern Pharma began enrolling patients for a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating LP-284 in patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma (NHL), including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and double hit lymphoma (DHL) and other high-grade B-cell lymphomas (HGBL) as well as other select solid tumors and sarcomas. In mid-March 2024, Lantern announced that the first two patients had been dosed in the Phase 1 clinical trial.

MCL accounts for up to ~5,800 cases of NHL in Japan each year. In the U.S. and Europe, MCL and DHL are diagnosed in a combined ~9,000 patients each year. Nearly all patients diagnosed with MCL will relapse after treatment and LP-284 represents a potential improved novel therapeutic option for treatment of relapsed or recurrent NHL.

LP-284 has also been granted an Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of HGBL, and another for the treatment of MCL. LP-284 is the second drug candidate from Lantern Pharma to receive such designation from the FDA. LP-184?

a novel therapeutic in clinical development for the potential treatment of malignant gliomas, pancreatic cancer, and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (ATRT)? has also been granted an ODD by the FDA, along with a Rare Pediatric Disease Designation.