Galectin Therapeutics Inc.

GALECTIN THERAPEUTICS INC is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on drug research and development for fibrotic disease, cancer, and other selected diseases. The company's drug candidates target galectin proteins, which are central to biological and pathological functions. They manufacture proprietary, patented complex carbohydrates from naturally occurring plant products. These carbohydrate molecules are formulated into pharmaceutical preparations. Using these unique carbohydrate-based compounds, which primarily bind to and inhibit galectin proteins, especially galectin-3, the company develops therapies for diseases where galectin proteins play a role in disease development. They concentrate on serious, life-threatening diseases with limited current treatment options, specifically metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly NASH) with cirrhosis and certain cancer indications. The company's lead galectin-3 inhibitor is belapectin (GR-MD-02). Preclinical models have shown belapectin can reverse liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and clinical studies have demonstrated its ability to decrease portal hypertension and prevent the development of esophageal varices. Belapectin has potential for treating various diseases due to galectin-3's involvement in multiple biological pathways, including fibrosis, immune cell function and immunity, cell differentiation, cell growth, and apoptosis. Experimental evidence supports galectin-3's role in fibrosis; animals lacking the galectin-3 gene cannot develop fibrosis in response to experimental stimuli, unlike those with an intact gene. GALECTIN THERAPEUTICS INC is using its galectin-3 inhibitor to treat advanced liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis in MASH patients.