Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced that it has completed recruitment for its Phase IIb ARREST study. The ARREST Study is a global, multi-center, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, Phase IIb clinical trial evaluating the treatment effects and safety of Aramchol in 240 patients with biopsy proven NASH who are overweight or obese, and who are pre-diabetic or type-II-diabetic. The ARREST Study duration is 52 weeks with 12 weeks' follow-up period. Results are anticipated to be announced in second quarter 2018. The ARREST Study primary endpoint, previously demonstrated in a Phase IIa study, is reduction in liver fat content measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The secondary histological endpoints include improvement of fibrosis, two-point improvement in NAS (NAFLD Activity Score) and resolution of NASH. The ARREST Study will also evaluate surrogate metabolic endpoints. Patients enrolled in the ARREST Study have advanced NASH with more than 60% having fibrosis in stages 2 (19%) and 3 (42%) and a mean NAS score of 5.