Wound healing is vital for the human being. When the skin is injured it must immediately be repaired to keep bacteria and other harmful substances out. Wound healing is important not only after traumatic injuries following trauma or surgery, but also after burn injuries and other types of skin losses. Wound healing is regulated by the immune system and can in short be described as three or four succeeding phases, which are well coordinated: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and reconstruction. The phases do not occur in a clear chronological order but melt into each other without clear boundaries. Wound healing is a complex biological process. In order for a wound to heal normally, components need to be controlled, synchronized and balanced. If this interaction is disturbed, the result will be an excessive repair process (for example, tissue hypertrophy or adhesion) or a wound that does not heal.
Chronic wounds are predominantly venous leg ulcers (caused by poor vascular function in the legs), diabetic ulcers (caused by neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease) and pressure ulcers. A common definition of a chronic wound is a wound that has not shown a tendency to heal within six weeks (1).
Irrespective of wound, the healing time is affected by, among other things, the age of the patient, general condition, nutritional status, smoking, mobility and chronic diseases such as diabetes. The aim of treating wounds is to accelerate healing and prevent infections, but also to reduce pain, bad odor and adhesions as well as other complications.
The global market for wound care products is estimated at 20 billion USD in 2020 with an annual growth rate of 4.6 percent (2).
An increase in chronic diseases, such as diabetes, peripheral artery disease, cardiovascular disease as well as immune disorders and other conditions that deteriorates the natural healing process is expected to result in an increased demand for bioactive wound care products; e.g. treatments for diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. Moreover, an increase in consumer awareness associated with expectation on bioactive wound care treatments, instead of traditional wound care products in combination with an ageing population and increasing wound related complications, are factors what will drive market growth in the future. In the US, the market is also driven by more favorable reimbursement from health authorities and private insurance schemes for curative therapies (3).
Chronic ulcers are generally defined as wounds that do not show signs of healing within six weeks, despite regular cleaning and wound care. Chronic ulcers are generally divided into three main categories; venous leg ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers and pressure ulcers. Chronic wounds can effuse wound fluid, bleed, cause pain and bad odor, and can reduce the mobility of the patient. Open wounds are often colonized with bacteria and fungi that can cause wound infections. In severe cases, the wounds can result in hospitalization and amputation of an extremity. The regular management of a wound, typically involve care visits 2-3 times per week and also result in reduced professional capability for the patient and significant healthcare costs for the society. In the US alone, it is estimated that the aggregated healthcare costs for patients with hard-to-heal ulcers exceed 25 billion USD annually (4).
Venous Leg Ulcers
In the larger pharmaceutical markets, venous leg ulcers are the largest category of chronic wounds comprising approximately 40 percent of all hard-to-heal ulcers (5). The most common cause for venous leg ulcers is insufficient blood circulation in the lower legs and this condition is not screened for and therefore typically is discovered late in the health care system. Inadequate blood flow in the legs may result in swelling due to edema and the skin becomes more sensitive to damage; because of the vascular dysfunction, leg wounds heal slower. The risk to acquire non-healing venous leg ulcers increase with age and obesity (6).
Diabetic Foot Ulcers
There are an estimated 425 million people in the world with diabetes, and this number is forecasted to increase to 629 million by 2045 (7). In the US, an estimated 900,000 people develop diabetic foot ulcers annually, in a diabetic population of approximately 21 million.
(1) Definition according to Swedish Medical Products Agency.
(2) Markets and Markets “Wound Care Market – Global Forecast to 2022”.
(3) Technavio “Global Bioactive Wound Care Market” 2016 – 2020.
(4) Sen, CK, et al, Human Skin Wounds: A Major and Snowballing Threat to Public Health and the Economy. Wound Repair Regen. 2009 Nov–Dec; 17(6): 763–771.
(5) J. Bradford Rice, Urvi Desai, Alice Kate G. Cummings, Howard G. Birnbaum, Michelle Skornicki & Nathan Parsons, Burden of venous leg ulcers in the United States, Journal of Medical Economics, 2014 17:5, 347-356.
(6) Vivas A. et el. Venous Leg Ulcers. J Ann Intern Med. 2016;165(3).
(7) International Diabetes Federation (Diabetes: Facts and figures 2017).