Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GLMD), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced on Tuesday a collaboration agreement with Ramot, a technology transfer company at Tel Aviv University, to evaluate the brain-penetrating Aramchol in treating metastatic brain cancer.
Aramchol is a SCD1 inhibitor originally developed to treat liver disease, and was expanded by Galmed for oncological indications including breast cancer brain metastasis. Research published by the Ben-David and Satchi-Fainaro labs at Tel Aviv University indicates that breast cancer brain metastasis is caused by p53 inactivation, inducing metabolic adaptations into tumors. This is accompanied by the upregulation of SCD1, an enzyme needed for lipid synthesis in proliferating cancer cells. Aramchol treats this by downregulating SCD1 in cancer cells, preventing further metastasis.
By combining the genomic expertise and advanced 3D in vitro and in vivo modeling of the collaborating labs, Galmed expects to validate the efficacy of aramchol in treating p53-deficient brain metastasis using advanced preclinical testing systems. The findings will also support Galmed's ongoing clinical work at Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center in colorectal cancers, where p53 mutations are highly prevalent.
Galmed's Co-founder and CEO Allen Baharaff said the collaboration highlights Aramchol's potential as a novel therapy for metastatic cancers, noting that p53 mutations drive metastasis through SCD1 upregulation and that the partnership with Tel Aviv University maps a promising development path.
GLMD closed Tuesday at $0.71, down 6.71%. In the premarket, shares are trading at $0.72, up 1.62%.
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