Galectin Therapeutics, Inc. announced that the company has received two new patents in China and two new patents in Japan for the Company's lead compound, GR-MD-02. The two patents from China provide broad intellectual property coverage. The first patent entitled "Composition of Novel Carbohydrate Drug for Treatment of Human Diseases," covers GR-MD-02 composition of matter and methods of use broadly for the treatment of fibrosis, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, or cancer. More specifically related to the clinical development programs, the patent covers NASH and liver fibrosis and immunotherapy of cancer. The second patent entitled "Galacto-Rhamnogalacturonate Compositions for the Treatment of Diseases Associated with Elevated Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase," extends the use of GR-MD-02 to a variety of other diseases including neurodegenerative disease, psoriasis, cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and dermatitis. The two new Japanese patents, in combination with the Company’s two existing Japanese patents, provide broad intellectual property coverage including GR-MD-02 composition of matter and all potential therapeutic indications under development in this important pharmaceutical market. The first of the two new patents, entitled “Galacto-Rhamnogalacturonate Compositions for the Treatment of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease,” provides specific coverage for the Company’s lead indication of NASH cirrhosis for GR-MD-02. The new allowed continuation patent, entitled "Composition of Novel Carbohydrate Drug for Treatment of Human Diseases," extends coverage of the company's lead compound, GR-MD-02 to pharmaceutical compositions for use in combination with multiple cancer immunotherapies, including those that target PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4, or OX-40. The patent coverage period for each of these Japanese and Chinese patents extends through 2032. GR-MD-02, a proprietary polysaccharide pharmaceutical preparation that inhibits galectin proteins, recently showed in a Phase 2b clinical trial (NASH-CX) that there were statistically significant and clinically relevant positive effects in patients with NASH cirrhosis without esophageal varices. The Company believes that this is the first randomized clinical trial of any drug to demonstrate clinically meaningful positive effects in this important group of patients. GR-MD-02 also showed encouraging Phase 1b results in combination with pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®) to treat advanced melanoma. In the first two cohorts of this study, five out of eight patients (62.5%) with advanced melanoma had objective responses, with two complete and three partial responses, which compares favorably with the known response rates with pembrolizumab alone (33%). The study continues with additional results expected in Summer, 2018.