Fibrocell Science, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCSC) skyrocketed early Friday, on announcing that Castle Creek Pharmaceutical Holdings announced it will acquire the cell and gene therapy company in a $3.00- per-share cash deal.
The Exton, Pa.-based cell company says the deal involves a total consideration of approximately $63.3 million, including repayment of debt and other financial instruments, in cash. This offer represents a 63% premium to Fibrocell’s 30-day volume weighted average price as of September 11.
Castle Creek is a privately held company developing therapies for patients with rare, serious or debilitating dermatologic conditions.
"Fibrocell's gene therapy platform can be advanced into additional areas of high, unmet need with the potential to develop multiple, promising new therapies," Castle Creek’s CEO said.
Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals already has a licensing and development collaboration with Fibrocell, which began in April.
Fibrocell CEO John Maslowski said, "We believe that combining with Castle Creek has a strong strategic rationale, as they have the expertise and resources necessary to continue the development of both FCX-007 and FCX-013, potentially bringing these and additional novel products to patients in need."
Fibrocell’s portfolio includes FCX-007, an investigational, late-stage stage gene therapy product candidate for the treatment of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a congenital and progressive orphan skin disease caused by the deficiency of the protein COL7.
There are currently no treatment options approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
Fibrocell Science shares were trading higher by $1.09, or 59.6%, at $2.92 in Friday’s early session. The stock has a 52-week range between $3.28 and $1.45.
