The Company expects to launch this pipeline test by the end of 2025.

Castle Biosciences, Inc.’s  non-invasive skin scraping technique produces sufficient ribonucleic acid (RNA) to assess reproducible gene expression for its inflammatory skin disease pipeline test, according to a poster was presented at the 4th Annual Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) Conference in Baltimore and virtually.

The Company expects to launch this pipeline test by the end of 2025.

Castle is developing a gene expression profile (GEP) test to predict response to systemic therapy in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, atopic dermatitis (AD) and related inflammatory skin conditions. 

“Through this study, we were looking to find a sample collection method for Castle’s pipeline GEP test that would be simple for clinicians to use yet would provide enough RNA to adequately examine the expression of genes in a lab setting; and we believe we succeeded,” says Aaron S. Farberg, M.D., study author and dermatologist affiliated with Baylor Scott & White Health System and Derm Texas in Dallas, in a news release. “The potential for this pipeline test to improve care for patients, by using their unique biology to guide selection of an effective medication for their disease, is notable, and I am excited by the possibility to better care for my patients, as I have seen how debilitating psoriasis and atopic dermatitis can be.”

The study used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to evaluate the gene expression of a standard gene set of samples collected by gently scraping affected and non-affected skin from 20 patients with AD and 20 patients with psoriasis from two dermatology centers in the U.S. Overall, the study determined that the non-invasive skin scraping technique produced sufficient RNA to assess reproducible gene expression needed to develop a gene expression profile for Castle’s inflammatory skin disease pipeline test.

In 2021, Castle initiated a 4,800 patient, prospective, multi-center clinical study to develop and validate this pipeline test. The study currently has 52 committed sites and approximately 145 patients enrolled; initial validation and development data is expected in 2023. a