Shares of Galmed (GLMD) Soar ~75% on Announcement of Expanded Activities to Address Cancer and Cardiometabolic Diseases
Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GLMD), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on fibroinflammatory conditions, announced today that due to its recent findings from the Open-Label portion of its Phase 3 NASH study, new scientific publications highlighting the role of SCD1 as a key metabolic signaling hub, and its extended cash runway, the company intends to expand its drug development efforts.
The expansion plans contain two more programs over the next two years. One program willfocus on identifying novel Aramchol drug combinations to over come resistance to cancer treatments for those suffering from advanced colorectal and hepatic cancers. The other program intends to develop new mechanisms of action that assist in the development of a novel Aramchol-based drug combination to target cardiac fibrosis which is also known as scarring of the heart that can lead to heart dysfunction and failure. The Company plans on releasing new data from in-vitro and ex-vivo studies in these programs during the fourth quarter of 2024.
Allen Baharaff, President and CEO of Galmed Pharmaceuticals commented: “The conditions Galmed plans to focus upon in the coming years are major public health problems impacting millions of people worldwide and posing huge financial burden on health providers. SCD1 is a key enzyme that critically regulates many physiological processes, thereby promoting the progression of cardiovascular, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. We are leveraging on two decades of development of the most clinically advanced SCD1 inhibitor (Aramchol) to date as we broaden our drug development activities. Recent scientific breakthroughs identifying the role of SCD1 as a “master-switch” in lipid metabolism together with our recent infusion of cash, encourage us to expand from liver diseases to major cardiometabolic and cancer indications in dire need of new therapies. In this research, Galmed is collaborating with both leading academia and industry, employing cutting-edge drug development methodologies like AI data mining and proprietary “organ-on-a-chip” systems to accelerate our development processes.”
On today’s announcement, shares of Galmed rose ~75% to a stock price of ~$12.20 per share. The company currently leads the PRISM Emerging Pharmaceutical Index.
