Business
Ligand Leads $75 Million Royalty Financing in Castle Creek Biosciences
Capital will fund Castle Creek’s D-Fi Phase 3 clinical trial for patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa through topline data results Ligand invested
About this update from Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
[{"type":"text","content":"Capital will fund Castle Creek’s D-Fi Phase 3 clinical trial for patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa through topline data results Ligand invested $50 million and a syndicate of co-investors invested $25 million in return for a high-single digit royalty on D-Fi JUPITER, Fla., Feb. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: LGND) today announced it has closed a royalty financing agreement with Castle Creek Biosciences, Inc. to support the Phase 3 clinical study of D-Fi (FCX-007), Castle Creek’s lead candidate, in patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB). Ligand originated, structured, and invested $50 million and led a syndicate of co-investors who invested $25 million in exchange for a high-single digit royalty on worldwide sales of D-Fi. The syndicate includes existing Castle Creek investors Paragon Biosciences and Valor Equity Partners and new investor XOMA Royalty Corporation (Nasdaq: XOMA). “Partnering with Castle Creek is an exciting opportunity to advance an orphan drug-designated gene therapy for a serious unmet medical need through Phase 3 development,” said Todd Davis, CEO of Ligand. “This collaboration reflects our commitment to invest in groundbreaking de-risked treatments that can transform patients' lives and expand our diversified portfolio of revenue-generating assets.” “We are pleased Ligand and our syndicate of investors recognized the potential of this critical therapy, which we believe represents a significant step forward in addressing the needs of patients living with DEB,” commented Matthew Gantz, president and CEO of Castle Creek. “Having a sophisticated investor like Ligand work closely with our extremely supportive equity partners made this transaction to support our Phase 3 clinical trial possible.” D-Fi is an injectable autologous gene-modified cell therapy candidate for the treatment of DEB, a devastating, progressive, painful, and debilitating rare genetic skin disorder. DEB is caused by a mutation in the COL7A1 gene, leading to a deficiency of normal type VII collagen (COL7) protein, impairing the connection between the epidermis and the dermis. D-Fi is comprised of a patient’s own dermal fibroblasts, which are genetically modified completely ex vivo with a self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral vector (LV) containing the COL7A1 gene to express COL7. ...