Galecto, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Amit Munshi as its new Chairman. Galecto also announced the appointment of David Shapiro MD, the former Chief Medical Officer of Intercept Pharmaceuticals, to its Board of Directors. Amit Munshi has 30 years of international experience in private and public companies in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technologies. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals and replaces Magnus Persson, who will continue to be available to Galecto as an adviser and a board observer. During his career, Amit Munshi has built up extensive expertise in most areas of drug development and commercialization, including general management, IPOs, marketing, global fundraising, portfolio development, corporate partnerships and mergers and acquisitions. He has been CEO of Arena Pharmaceuticals since 2016. In this role he has overseen progress in more than 30 clinical trials, raised more than $600 million in equity financing and drove the company’s market capitalization from $300 million to $2.6 billion. Prior to Arena, Amit Munshi was CEO of EPIRUS Biopharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the company’s first market launch and completed a merger to list on NASDAQ. He has also served a number of other healthcare companies in senior executive roles, including Amgen and Astra Merck. Dr. Shapiro was CMO and Head of Research and Development at Intercept Pharmaceuticals from 2007 until 2019. In this role, Dr. Shapiro led the obeticholic acid development programs that resulted in the first approval of a treatment for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) for some 20 years and the program in Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis that resulted in the first positive Phase 3 trial in this disease. Previously, Dr. Shapiro was CMO of Idun Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Pfizer, President of the Scripps Medical Research Center of Scripps Clinic and he also led Merck's highly competitive hypertension clinical research program.
Galecto, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. The Company is focused on developing novel small molecule therapeutics that are designed to target the biological processes that lie at the heart of cancer and fibrotic diseases. The Companyâs initial focus is on the development of small molecule inhibitors of galectin-3 and lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2). It is developing GB0139 for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a life-threatening progressive fibrotic disease of the lung. The Companyâs product candidate also includes GB1211, a selective oral small molecule inhibitor of galectin-three, is chemically distinct from GB0139 and is being developed for the treatment of various oncology indications and liver cirrhosis, and GB2064 is a selective oral small molecule inhibitor of LOXL2 for the treatment of myelofibrosis, a malignant disease of the bone marrow in which progressive fibrosis reduces the ability to form blood cells in the bone marrow.
GALECTO, INC. 
