Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (GLMD) is experiencing a surge in its share price on Thursday, driven by the company’s announcement of its plans to expand its drug development activities over the next two years. This expansion will involve two new programs designed to tackle significant public health challenges.
One program aims to discover innovative Aramchol-based drug combinations that can overcome resistance to standard cancer treatments for patients battling advanced colorectal and hepatic cancers. The other program is focused on finding new ways to develop a novel Aramchol-based drug combination to address the issue of cardiac fibrosis.
Galmed, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is set to unveil fresh data from in-vitro and ex-vivo studies on these programs during the fourth quarter. The company’s President and CEO, Allen Baharaff, emphasized the importance of these initiatives, stating, “The conditions Galmed plans to focus upon in the coming years are major public health problems impacting millions of people worldwide and posing huge financial burden on health providers.” He further highlighted the role of SCD1, a key enzyme, in regulating various physiological processes and its contribution to the progression of cardiovascular, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Galmed’s strategy involves leveraging its two decades of experience in developing Aramchol, the most clinically advanced SCD1 inhibitor to date, as it expands its drug development portfolio.
It’s important to note that Galmed Pharmaceuticals is a low-float stock, meaning there are only approximately 625,000 shares available for public trading. This, coupled with the company’s micro-cap status (a market cap below $4.5 million as of Wednesday’s close), can lead to significant price volatility. This heightened volatility could be a contributing factor to Thursday’s surge. Galmed’s average daily trading volume over the past 100 days has been around 1.711 million shares. However, on Thursday, the trading volume already exceeded 16 million shares by the time this article was written.
As of this writing, Galmed shares are up 53.6% at $10.60. The company’s bold move into expanding its drug development activities, coupled with its low-float status, has created a volatile yet potentially rewarding environment for investors. This situation underscores the importance of thorough research and understanding of the dynamics of low-float stocks before making any investment decisions.
