La Jolla Pharmaceutical acquired global development and commercialization rights to Solana Therapeutics’ inhibitor of galectin-3, GCS-100. Galectin-3 has been implicated in cancer and chronic organ failure.
GCS-100's ongoing development as an anticancer and antifibrotic agent is supported by preclinical and clinical investigation including Phase I and Phase II trials involving more than 140 patients. Experimental results to date indicate that GCS-100 specifically inhibits galectin-3 in immune cells and confers anticancer activity in several tumor types.
Galectin-3 plays a key role in the immune system's response to cancer and tissue injury. Investigators at the Ludwig Cancer Institute have reportedly shown that galectin-3 inhibits the activity of cancer-killing T cells and that pharmacologically blocking galectin-3 with GCS-100 reactivates these T cells. In addition, a number of other academic studies have concluded that galectin-3 is a mediator of fibrosis after heart, kidney, lung, and liver injury.