Poorly healing wounds, in part due to impaired circulation, are often a major complication of diabetes and can lead to severe complications if left untreated.
The research for the study was performed by the cardiovascular research division of the St Elizabeth’s Medical Center of Boston, Massachusetts. The authors observed that part of the wound healing response to stimulating the Hedgehog signaling pathway involved increasing blood flow within the wound, and they concluded that a topically applied Hedgehog drug therapy may have significant therapeutic potential for enhanced wound healing in patients with impaired microcirculation such as diabetic foot ulcers.
The Hedgehog agonist program was exclusively licensed to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in February 2004. Under the terms of the license agreement, Curis retained the right to develop Hedgehog agonists for topical treatment to stimulate hair growth. The license agreement was subsequently amended to broaden Curis’ development rights to include topical applications to treat or prevent skin diseases or disorders.
In December 2004, Wyeth approved a group of Hedgehog agonist compounds for use in Curis’ retained programs. Curis is currently using these Hedgehog agonists in a hair growth program and the new report suggests that they may also be useful for development in a wound healing program.