title: Advances in the treatment of chronic wounds: a patent review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  About 2% of the Western world population suffer from chronic wounds, resulting from underlying disorders (e.g., diabetes, excessive pressure, vascular insufficiencies and vasculitis), with a significant adverse effect on Quality of Life. Despite high incidence and economic burden, management of chronic wounds is still far from effective and novel therapies are in urgent need. Wound healing is a dynamic process of transient expression, function and clearance of mediators, enzymes and cell types. Failure to initiate, terminate or regulate leads to pathologic wound healing.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present review discusses patents of the seven most promising classes of biological agents, mostly published in 2009 - 2014 (CYP11B1 inhibitors, peptide growth factors, prolyl-4-hydroxylase and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, elastase and connexin43 inhibitors). Relevant information from peer-reviewed journals is also presented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The aforementioned biological agents have different mechanisms of action, and considering the multifactorial pathogenesis of chronic wounds, they hold promise in treating chronic wounds. However, as administration of a certain biological agent may be beneficial in an early phase, it may slow down wound healing in a later phase. Basic and clinical research on chronic wound healing should therefore investigate the efficacy of these agents, alone and in concert, during the consecutive phases of wound healing.
authors.affiliation: ElexoPharm GmbH , Im Stadtwald, Building A1.2, 66123 Saarbrücken , Germany +49 681 30268320 ; +49 681 9102894 ; vankoppen@elexopharm.de.
authors.forename: Chris J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: van Koppen
authors.forename: Rolf W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hartmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D010330:Patents as Topic; D011788:Quality of Life; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors
keywords: CYP11B1; bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells; connexin43; decubitus; diabetes; elastase; growth factors; matrix metalloproteinases; prolyl-4-hydroxylase; wound healing