BASKING RIDGE, N.J., April  09, 2024  (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lisata Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LSTA) ("Lisata" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of advanced solid tumors and other serious diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") has granted Orphan Drug Designation ("ODD") to LSTA1, the Company's lead product candidate, for the treatment of osteosarcoma, a rare cancer that can develop in children, adolescents and young adults. LSTA1 recently received Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for osteosarcoma, as announced by the Company on March 21, 2024.

"We are thrilled to have received another favorable regulatory designation from the FDA. This underscores the significant unmet medical need and demand for better treatments for patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma," stated Kristen K. Buck, M.D., Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Medical Officer of Lisata. "Osteosarcoma, while rare, is a type of bone cancer that is often associated with high morbidity, early metastasis, rapid progression, and poor prognosis. Receiving an ODD from the FDA is an important milestone as we plan for future clinical expansion of LSTA1, and we believe it reflects the broad clinical utility of LSTA1 for the treatment of a wide array of solid tumors."

Orphan Drug Designation is granted by the FDA to drugs or biologics intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as one that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The designation can provide for a seven-year window of exclusive marketing rights post-approval as well as exemption from user fees and eligibility for tax credits for qualified clinical trials. In addition to the financial benefits, it also may potentially shorten clinical development due to closer collaboration with the FDA.

About LSTA1

LSTA1 is an investigational drug designed to activate a novel uptake pathway that allows co-administered or tethered (i.e., covalently bound) anti-cancer drugs to penetrate solid tumors more effectively. LSTA1 actuates this active transport system in a tumor-specific manner, resulting in systemically co-administered anti-cancer drugs more efficiently penetrating and accumulating in the tumor. LSTA1 also has the potential to modify the tumor microenvironment resulting in tumors which are more susceptible to immunotherapies. Lisata and its collaborators have amassed significant non-clinical data demonstrating enhanced delivery of a range of existing and emerging anti-cancer therapies, including chemotherapeutics, immunotherapies, and RNA-based therapeutics. Additionally, LSTA1 has demonstrated favorable safety, tolerability, and activity in clinical trials to enhance delivery of SoC chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Lisata is exploring the potential of LSTA1 to enable a variety of treatment modalities to treat a range of solid tumors more effectively. LSTA1 has been granted ODD for pancreatic cancer in the U.S. and Europe as well as for glioblastoma multiforme and osteosarcoma in the U.S. It also received a Fast Track designation from the FDA for pancreatic cancer and, just recently, a Rare Pediatric Disease designation from the FDA for osteosarcoma.