Galectin Therapeutics Inc. GALT, +3.47% shares surged 15% in Thursday premarket trade after the company said that combining its therapy, GR-MD-02, with Keytruda, Merck & Co.'s MRK, +1.00% leading cancer therapy, appeared to have better results for patients with advanced melanoma than Keytruda alone. Notably, though, results were preliminary, based on data from an early-stage, phase 1b clinical trial, and integrated results from two earlier groups of patients on lower doses of GR-MD-02 with a third, higher-dose group. Galectin said that of 14 patients across the three groups, seven had reductions in cancer tumor size, or an objective response rate of 50%. Meanwhile, Keytruda alone has response rate that ranges between 21% to 39%, noted Dr. Brendan Curti, the trial's principal investigator and the director of the Providence Cancer Institute's melanoma program. Of the trial's 14 patients, nine had their cancer improve or remain stable, or a disease control rate of 64%. The phase 1b trial also enrolled six patients with head and neck cancer, for whom a 33% objective response rate and 67% disease control rate were observed. Curti said he and others were "very encouraged" by the melanoma results, and noted that results in both cancers were better than expected for Keytruda on its own. The trial will move forward in both areas, he said, and they plan to include more patients. Galectin shares have dropped nearly 24% over the last three months, compared with a 5.1% rise in the S&P 500 SPX, +0.74% and a 7.1% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.93%
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