title: Emerging drugs for the treatment of wound healing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wound healing can be characterized as underhealing, as in the setting of chronic wounds, or overhealing, occurring with hypertrophic scar formation after burn injury. Topical therapies targeting specific biochemical and molecular pathways represent a promising avenue for improving and, in some cases normalizing, the healing process.
  
  
  METHODS
  A brief overview of both normal and pathological wound healing has been provided, along with a review of the current clinical guidelines and treatment modalities for chronic wounds, burn wounds and scar formation. Next, the major avenues for wound healing drugs, along with drugs currently in development, are discussed. Finally, potential challenges to further drug development, and future research directions are discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The large body of research concerning wound healing pathophysiology has provided multiple targets for topical therapies. Growth factor therapies with the ability to be targeted for localized release in the wound microenvironment are most promising, particularly when they modulate processes in the proliferative phase of wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Hagey Laboratory for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine , 257 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5148 , USA +1 650 736 1707 ; +1 650 736 1705 ; longaker@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Zielins
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Brett
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Graham G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Walmsley
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.forename: Kshemendra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Senarath-Yapa
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Atashroo
authors.forename: Taylor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wearda
authors.forename: H Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lorenz
authors.forename: Derrick C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Longaker
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000818:Animals; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
keywords: adjuvant; burns; chronic wounds; developing drugs; scarring; wound healing