News Release Details

• GB0139 showed pharmacodynamic evidence with reduction of galectin-3
• Direct link to clinical results in IPF patients after 14 days treatment
• Lead compound being developed in Phase 2b trial, with readout due in 2022

 Copenhagen, Denmark, May 4, 2020 – Galecto, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for fibrosis and cancer, today announced new data describing the preclinical and clinical evidence for anti-fibrotic activity of its lead compound GB0139 (formerly TD139), in an abstract for the Experimental Biology 2020 conference.

Galecto is developing GB0139 to treat most forms of lung fibrosis with an initial focus on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a life-threatening progressive fibrotic disease of the lung affecting approximately 100,000 people in the United States.

The poster presentation, available online as the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19, described results from pre‐clinical studies investigating galectin-3 in vitro and in vivo in naïve and bleomycin‐treated mice and a randomized, double‐blind, multi‐centre, placebo‐controlled, phase IIa study of GB0139 in 24 patients with IPF.

The results showed that GB0139 is highly effective in the bleomycin model, including pharmacodynamic evidence with reduction of galectin-3. It had a direct link to clinical evidence in IPF patients after 14 days of treatment, including targeting alveolar macrophage with extended lung retention providing duration of actionand reducing extracellular galectin-3 in a dose dependent fashion. There was a reduction in a number of fibrosis biomarkers and these were the same as in the mouse model, demonstrating a link between the model and patient effects. The full GB0139 abstract is available here.

“These data are a further reinforcement of our belief in the potential success of GB0139 based on its mechanism, the targeting of the key regulator galectin-3, in anti-fibrotic diseases where there is a significant unmet medical need,” said Hans Schambye, CEO of Galecto. “This provides further evidence of the efficacy of GB0139, and we are looking forward to results from our ongoing Phase 2b trial in 450 IPF patients in 2022, in which the aim is to show clinically meaningful changes in lung function.”

About Galecto Galecto is a clinical stage biotechnology company with advanced programs in fibrosis and cancer centered on galectin-3 and LOXL2. Their pipeline includes an inhaled galectin-3 modulator currently in phase 2b for the potential treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as well as two assets about to move into phase 2a targeting NASH and myelofibrosis. The company is incorporated in the U.S. and has its operating headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Galecto is funded by Novo Holdings, OrbiMed, Ysios, HBM Healthcare Investments, Sunstone Capital, M Ventures, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Maverick Ventures, Seventure and SEED Capital.

Further information can be found at www.galecto.com.

For more information, contact: