Aclaris's drug to treat common skin growth gets FDA nod

Aclaris Therapeutics Inc's drug to treat a common kind of skin growth called seborrheic keratoses received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the company said on Friday.

It is the only topical medicine for the condition to receive FDA approval and the first marketing approval for Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Aclaris.

The company's shares rose 4.8 percent to $25.90 in premarket trading after the news.

Aclaris plans to price the drug, Eskata, at the higher end of a $75 to $125 range, Chief Executive Neal Walker said in an interview last month. A price had not yet been decided, he added.

One unit of Eskata would treat six to seven lesions on average, Walker said.

Seborrheic keratoses are harmless, non-cancerous skin growths that affect more than 83 million American adults, according to Aclaris.

Current therapies for treating such skin lesions include cryosurgery, burning, cutting or scraping — all generally painful options that may also cause pigmentation and infection.

Eskata is expected to be commercially available in the spring of 2018.