Castle Creek Biosciences, Inc., a late-stage cell and gene therapy company using two lentiviral platforms to develop and commercialize therapies for genetic diseases, today announced an oversubscribed and upsized preferred stock financing of $112.8 million.
Castle Creek Biosciences is in late-stage development of gene therapies for rare connective tissue conditions. Its most advanced products, ex vivo therapies based on the company’s proprietary autologous fibroblast technology platform, are localized treatments administered at disease sites. New early-stage products from a recent acquisition have added in vivo, or inside the body, gene therapies, which act against the root causes of targeted diseases. The lead product, D-Fi (coded FCX-007), is now entering late-stage trials for localized treatment of skin blisters and wounds due to dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB), a rare but horrific inherited condition. Next in line is FCX-013, now in Phase 1/2, treating localized scleroderma. Other ex vivo therapies, including some to treat rare collagen disorders, are in discovery stages tightly focused on rare connective tissue conditions. In vivo gene therapies are in preclinical studies for rare metabolic and liver diseases.
Castle Creek Biosciences, Inc., a late-clinical stage cell and gene therapy company focused on developing and preparing to commercialize disease-modifying and potentially curative therapies for rare genetic diseases, today announced it has acquired Novavita Thera, Inc., a preclinical gene therapy company focused on rare liver and metabolic diseases. The acquisition expands Castle Creek’s technology platform by adding in vivo capabilities to its existing ex vivo approach, and broadens Castle Creek’s development pipeline beyond skin and connective tissue disorders to rare liver diseases.
Philadelphia, the birthplace of cell and gene therapy, is home to a number of companies focused on developing multiple treatment options for rare diseases, those that affect less than 200,000 people in the United States.
