New Drug Delivered through a Skin Patch May Help Heal Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Researchers have developed a drug that increases hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) and can penetrate the skin through a transdermal patch. Blood sugar toxicity in diabetics impairs HIF-1α, a protein that turns on genes that help form new networks of small blood vessels. In a skin apparatus used to simulate foot ulcers, wounds healed 14 days faster with transdermal delivery of the drug compared to applying it in a topical solution. The drug’s main ingredient is deferoxamine, which has been available for more than 60 years. The research was presented at the American College of Surgeons Annual Clinical Congress.