Fi­bro­cell Sci­ence sees light at the end of the tun­nel with Cas­tle Creek deal to de­vel­op 'but­ter­fly' dis­ease gene ther­a­py

Em­bat­tled cell and gene ther­a­py com­pa­ny Fi­bro­cell Sci­ence — which last year ini­ti­at­ed a re­view of strate­gic al­ter­na­tives — has found a way for­ward by join­ing forces with Jeff Aronin’s Cas­tle Creek Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, shep­herd­ing its lead gene ther­a­py for “but­ter­fly” dis­ease in­to late-stage de­vel­op­ment.

Aronin, for­mer chief of the con­tro­ver­sial Marathon Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, al­ready has one drug in the Cas­tle Creek pipeline for the dis­ease. He raised $71.8 mil­lion last Oc­to­ber to re­pur­pose an oral or­phan drug called di­ac­ere­in (ap­proved to treat joint swelling or pain in the EU, but re­strict­ed due to the risks of di­ar­rhea and liv­er prob­lems) in­to a top­i­cal treat­ment for epi­der­mol­y­sis bul­losa sim­plex, a form of rare ge­net­ic con­di­tion known as “but­ter­fly skin.”

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