Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals inks CMO, SVP of R&D

Parsippany-based Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals LLC, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for patients with dermatologic conditions, announced Monday it has appointed Mary Spellman as chief medical officer and senior vice president of research and development.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Spellman to the Castle Creek team as we advance into late stage clinical development with our investigational diacerein ointment for the potential treatment of patients with epidermolysis bullosa simplex (a genetic condition that causes the skin to be fragile and blister),” Castle Creek CEO Greg Wujek said. “Dr. Spellman brings decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has supported the successful development of topical products. We look forward to her insights, not only as a leader in our industry but also as an accomplished practicing dermatologist.”

Spellman is a board-certified dermatologist with more than 30 years of clinical experience.

Before Castle Creek, Spellman served as the chief medical officer at Menlo Therapeutics. Before that, she was a medical consultant providing safety support for multiple biopharmaceutical and device development companies; served as chief medical officer and senior vice president of development at Revance Therapeutics; senior director of medical research in immunology at Biogen Idec; vice president of dermatology research at Connetics Corp.; and medical director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

“Throughout my career I have been focused on advancing the development of new therapies positioned to help patients who often do not have any effective options available for their dermatologic conditions,” Spellman said. “This is an exciting time to join Castle Creek as the company moves closer to bringing a much needed therapy to people living with the most common form of epidermolysis bullosa, a severe and debilitating condition associated with fragile skin and widespread blistering.”