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Another hope
A Canadian surgeons painstaking research into a rare tumour has led him to a surprising discovery that could benefit millions and earn billions.
For two decades, Benjamin Alman, the head of orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, sought a treatment for desmoid tumours, which afflict about 30 Canadians each year. Though non-cancerous, they require surgery sometimes even amputation
What he found is an old analgesic used in Europe that when reformulated has a new use. In doing so, he appears to have hit upon a discovery sought since ancient times: how to dramatically reduce scar formation. By turning an old molecule into a cream and applying it daily for three weeks, scars from surgery grow to less than half of the expected size.
The molecule which was not identified pending publication of a scientific paper constitutes one of the biggest projects developed by MaRS Innovation, a government-funded organization that helps commercialize the ideas of scientists working at Ontarios universities and teaching hospitals. The discovery has since spawned an agreement with Novotek Therapeutics Co. Ltd., in China.
Its very exciting to think any one doing fundamental research can understand a gene defect causing a problem, be able to find a drug to target it, to actually having it potentially used for patients, said Dr. Alman, also chair of orthopedic surgery at University of Toronto, who has so far conducted animal studies. Thats what biomedical research is all about. Thats about as exciting as it can get.
Every surgical patient is a potential customer for the cream, expected to retail for $350 per treatment course. Patients most likely to seek it are those undergoing reconstructive surgery due to tumour removal, burns, or from repairing congenital malformations, as well as women undergoing cesarean sections and seniors with joint replacements.
Its a massive market that no one has been successful in achieving, said Ivan Waissbluth, project manager of Life Sciences for MaRS Innovation. The U.S. market is estimated at $4-billion; North American clinical trials on the cream are to be led in Toronto, in early 2013.
Commercializing science is a growing, necessary trend, say experts, as too many discoveries have been bought for next to nothing insulin was sold for $1 by the University of Toronto or fizzled out, due to lack of financing or interest.
The reason why they decided to do this, said Rafi Hofstein, president and chief executive officer of MaRS Innovation, is because they felt that theres a gap between the quality of academic research and commercialization of the outcome.
Commercializing science not only provides a product to help patients, but the proceeds will get re-invested into research and innovation, according to Mary Jo Haddad, president and chief executive officer of Hospital for Sick Children and board chair of MaRS Innovation, adding that it has the potential to be very, very significant.
The hunt for a scar treatment has been sought since early times. Remedies of frankincense and fermented fruit juices have been scratched out on papyrus. People have applied a mixture of red ochre and kohl. Even gum was stuck to burns. More recently, incisions have been slathered with vitamin E, despite a lack of proof it works.
At least 19 different attempts to create an anti-scarring treatment have been documented by pharmaceutical companies in several countries including Canada, New Zealand, France and the United States all to no avail.
In this case, Novotek will spend about $6-million (U.S.) to bring the drug called ScarX onto the Chinese market, according to its chief executive officer, Jubo Liu. In exchange for developing and commercializing it, Novotek keeps the Chinese market; MaRS Innovation receives data, milestone payments and royalties from China but is able to sell it in other worldwide markets.
Scar forming has been a big concern for most of surgery patients after they have gone through a critical stage of their life, some time a life and death situation, wrote Dr. Liu in an e-mail. I believe this will help the patient to recover faster and enjoy a happier life.
Dr. Almans research began about 20 years ago, when he was an orthopedic surgery resident and he saw a young boy with a desmoid tumour wrapped around the blood vessels and nerves in his arm, leaving him with a functionless hand.
I just couldnt believe that somebody would actually get an amputation for what is supposed to be a benign tumour, Dr. Alman said.
He conducted research into the mutations that caused the tumour, then looked at how those mutations changed the way the cells behave. He then did drug screening to see what might inhibit the cells.
more in link:
http://www.mrs.org/h...l-heals-wounds/
Hydrogel material speeds burn wound healing with complete skin regeneration
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have taken a step toward improving the lives of third-degree-burn victims by developing a dextran-hydrogel-based material that speeds the healing process and improves the functional quality of regenerated skin. When tested on mice, the hydrogel enabled the quick growth of new blood vessels necessary to promote healing in these deep wounds, without the use of biological additives. (These trials on mice do not guarantee that this treatment will work on humans; further trials on larger animals are scheduled before human testing can even be considered.)
The dextran hydrogels themselves were modified with amine groups, but we did not add any bioactive moleculesno cells, no cytokines [proteins released by cells], no growth factors, says Sharon Gerecht of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the university, the lead researcher on the project. Her group worked closely with John W. Harmon of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins to ensure their procedure followed strict clinical guidelines and introduced no complicating variables.
The research, reported recently in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, follows up on previous work in which Gerechts group first added different functional groups to the dextran polymer and found that amine groups increased the interaction of the polymer with cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Next, they worked to optimize the amount of amine groups in the material. This resulted in a dextran-allyl isocyanate-ethylamine (Dex-AE)/polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEDGA) hydrogel with enough structural integrity to be used as a scaffold for regenerating skin, but with a loose interior architecture that allowed the cells and proteins necessary for burn healing to penetrate it.
Burn healing is a complex process that starts with the influx of inflammatory cells to the wound site. Among other things, these cells stimulate the release of growth factors that help new blood vessels to form. These blood vessels carry oxygen and nutrients to the damaged area. By comparing the rate of burn healing using scaffolds made of their dextran hydrogel, another dextran hydrogel with more crosslinking PEGDA that tightened up the structure, and the state-of-the-art clinical treatment that uses a cross-linked bovine tendon collagen and glycosaminoglycan matrix as a control, the researchers determined that this initial inflammatory step was key to the process.
We found that with the dextran hydrogel with more PEGDA as a crosslinker, the inflammatory cells were not penetrating as fast, not degrading the material as fast, therefore the response was slower, Gerecht explains. Eventual degradation of the scaffold material is necessary so that it can be replaced by skin cells, blood vessels, glands, and other components of normal skin. With the clinical control scaffold, the inflammatory cells were initially unable to penetrate the scaffold, so they accumulated in the boundary between the wound and the scaffold. In all three cases the inflammatory cells eventually penetrated the scaffolds and began the healing process, but the faster penetration in dextran hydrogel led to faster and more complete healing, including the regrowth of hair over the wound site.
In the absence of a comprehensive understanding of what is happening in these experiments, Gerecht is careful not to attribute their success to one property of the dextran hydrogel, such as the degree of crosslinking, pore size, or stiffness. We think it is a combination of the structure of the material and the composition that allows the inflammatory cells to penetrate the hydrogel and start the regeneration processwe think that is the key thing, basically, she concludes.
Guoming Sun, Xianjie Zhang, Yu-I Shen, Raul Sebastian, Laura E. Dickinson, Karen Fox-Talbot, Maura Reinblatt, Charles Steenbergen, John W. Harmon, and Sharon Gerecht, Published online before print December 14, 2011, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1115973108
PNAS December 14, 2011
What are Dex-AE and PEGDA, does anyone know?
It's been a year of the news.
Do you think that the inventor has not already tried in some small wound in a human? certainly has proven itself in a wound or a wound of some lab partner ... if no photo is not work ...
Even if no picture is that only want to raise money and perhaps give a poor use to heal ulcers diabetes. (mine is an opinion I hope I'm wrong). it is very rare that in one year have not proved either by humans or have a single photo
For those who speak with the creator of hydrogel: may ask:
why try it in a single human being is a necessary foundation? Why not try it in only some humans and then ask for money? that way to see good results, the world will be happy and will put money in hydrogel.
and pretend that the world can put money only with a picture of a mouse? why not do a test with only 5 people? for that you need money? liars
@mars123, there are actually several medically focused crowdfunding sites. Off the top of my head I know there is petridish.org. I had found two or three others earlier and posted them on this message board. But yes, indiegogo, unlike Kickstarter, has no restriction on the type of project that can funded and you can also set up a funding option that allows you to receive whatever funds are donated even if you don't reach your goal (albeit at a higher % of the funded total).
maldition, I don't imagine Gerecht or anyone else in their lab has tried utilizing this on humans yet for the simple reason that it would be unethical and they could legal reprisals and would almost certainly lose their jobs. Think about it. If Gerecht, Harmon and/or Sun just started cutting scars out of people and applying a gel, that as of yet is both unproven both for its efficacy and safety, they would almost assuredly be fired. Johns Hopkins is the leading medical university in the United States and they wouldn't take one of their researchers/professors running around doing rogue medical testing lightly.
Plus, the problem with just testing on one person or five without proper controls and an established methodology is that it wouldn't prove the effectiveness to the powers that be. It would be anecdotal evidence and since this isn't something like polio where there is a dire need for treatment we'd be right back where we are now with a good chance that it would actually slow things down since they wouldn't have followed procedure. On top of that, they're not even sure the mechanism that allows for the healing to have occurred in mice. While it seems innocuous and safe would you want to be the guinea pig for a test involving so many unknowns when it's not a life or death situation? You know, a lot of us would probably answer yes but then again we don't have lawsuits, codes of ethics and university board members to worry about. However, I will concede that if someone were to just go out and test it on a random set of five people and it worked like it did on the mice I would be super excited and convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that it works. I'll give you that.
2001, the US military and through their arm AFIRM provides grants for research projects in the field of regenerative medicine. Unless there is some specific language dealing with the terms and conditions of these grants I think all the researchers involved would retain their right to with it what they see fit. I think the only condition is that the technology developed would first be made available to soldiers but AFIRM's site explicitly states that's just the first step and they want to move it into the commercial sector. In fact, they also say they've already joined forces with several commercial interests. Dr. Gerecht's lab has actually already received grants from the NHLBI (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) to the tune of around 400k annually for last year and this year. On top of that the received another 90k from the NIH. I posted the link to this information a while back (I think in the 170s) if you want to find it.
maldition, I don't imagine Gerecht or anyone else in their lab has tried utilizing this on humans yet for the simple reason that it would be unethical and they could legal reprisals and would almost certainly lose their jobs. Think about it. If Gerecht, Harmon and/or Sun just started cutting scars out of people and applying a gel, that as of yet is both unproven both for its efficacy and safety, they would almost assuredly be fired. Johns Hopkins is the leading medical university in the United States and they wouldn't take one of their researchers/professors running around doing rogue medical testing lightly.
Plus, the problem with just testing on one person or five without proper controls and an established methodology is that it wouldn't prove the effectiveness to the powers that be. It would be anecdotal evidence and since this isn't something like polio where there is a dire need for treatment we'd be right back where we are now with a good chance that it would actually slow things down since they wouldn't have followed procedure. On top of that, they're not even sure the mechanism that allows for the healing to have occurred in mice. While it seems innocuous and safe would you want to be the guinea pig for a test involving so many unknowns when it's not a life or death situation? You know, a lot of us would probably answer yes but then again we don't have lawsuits, codes of ethics and university board members to worry about. However, I will concede that if someone were to just go out and test it on a random set of five people and it worked like it did on the mice I would be super excited and convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that it works. I'll give you that.
Understood
Any idea how long we must wait about for human testing?
Maybe open a facebook profile for help for this?
I just wanted to write what I think, in Russia clinical trials of new drugs last 3-4 year while in the US clinical trials last 10-15 years, 10-15 years of tests to determining whether a drug is effective or not and whether it is safe or not is ABSURD! So new drugs that are funded by this fund will be available to patients in just a few years in Russia while in the US the same drugs will be available to patients probably somewhere in mid-2020s
FDA is protecting the interests of Big Pharma (by closing the market for new, more efficient and cheaper drugs) and interests of con artists in biotech sector (they prefer to drag their scams as long as it is possible).
@mars123, there are actually several medically focused crowdfunding sites. Off the top of my head I know there is petridish.org. I had found two or three others earlier and posted them on this message board. But yes, indiegogo, unlike Kickstarter, has no restriction on the type of project that can funded and you can also set up a funding option that allows you to receive whatever funds are donated even if you don't reach your goal (albeit at a higher % of the funded total).
Thanks @golfpanther !
It's interesting that you can set up a pledge target in a certain time frame - and if the target is not reached then no money is taken - that leaves it very risk-free to people who might think about donating - either they will lose no money - or get the research they want.
I guess we still have to wait on chuckenstows feedback from JH - at which time if a figure is given that would be very helpful to us - although it might also be news that the army is to approve research.
What's also interesting I think is that if the army turn them down and a crowdfunder crowdfunding page was started we could maybe do it free from all the bureaucratic process that JH might have to go through - what I mean by that is - well, to be honest scientists are group who I think are very worried about their reputations - I guess it's a small world and a reputation could make or break your career - crowdfunding is pretty new - and I could see some scientists not wanting to essentially ask people on the internet to raise funds due to what their colleagues might think - and also they might think there is an ethical issue about having 'the masses' directing the funding of research and not scientists
BUT - a crowdfunded pledge page could be made even if JH go off to consider other ideas - I mean, what is stopping a page being made stating the initial experiment and saying the page would give money to however to do next stage research- and then if the target is reached the money could be given to JH - but that way they wouldn't be directly asking for the money from the public - it would kind of be given on the basis of the initial findings they released
I know there's a lot of speculating here - but just thinking out loud
@mars123, there are actually several medically focused crowdfunding sites. Off the top of my head I know there is petridish.org. I had found two or three others earlier and posted them on this message board. But yes, indiegogo, unlike Kickstarter, has no restriction on the type of project that can funded and you can also set up a funding option that allows you to receive whatever funds are donated even if you don't reach your goal (albeit at a higher % of the funded total).
Thanks @golfpanther !
It's interesting that you can set up a pledge target in a certain time frame - and if the target is not reached then no money is taken - that leaves it very risk-free to people who might think about donating - either they will lose no money - or get the research they want.
I guess we still have to wait on chuckenstows feedback from JH - at which time if a figure is given that would be very helpful to us - although it might also be news that the army is to approve research.
What's also interesting I think is that if the army turn them down and a crowdfunder crowdfunding page was started we could maybe do it free from all the bureaucratic process that JH might have to go through - what I mean by that is - well, to be honest scientists are group who I think are very worried about their reputations - I guess it's a small world and a reputation could make or break your career - crowdfunding is pretty new - and I could see some scientists not wanting to essentially ask people on the internet to raise funds due to what their colleagues might think - and also they might think there is an ethical issue about having 'the masses' directing the funding of research and not scientists
BUT - a crowdfunded pledge page could be made even if JH go off to consider other ideas - I mean, what is stopping a page being made stating the initial experiment and saying the page would give money to however to do next stage research- and then if the target is reached the money could be given to JH - but that way they wouldn't be directly asking for the money from the public - it would kind of be given on the basis of the initial findings they released
I know there's a lot of speculating here - but just thinking out loud
don't dream any more, chucknew dont give you anything , its only a newbie user teenager
are you saying forget about the hydrogel? That scientists at John Hopkins [rated the 5th best university in the world for Pre-clinical and Health studies by the Times of London, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-12/subject-ranking/subject/clinical-pre-clinical-health ] have claimed may lead to scarfree healing - and which they are going out of their way to get funding for - is that not happening? Is it just a dream?
Or are you saying that chuckenstow's emails are not real? Or that because chuckenstow is a teenager they are somehow less valid?
I know the hydrogel - like every other clinical theory may not lead to the outcome wanted - and that the idea of crowdfunding is new and just an idea floating around at the moment, but why not talk about these things? Every day we all benefit from innovations in health, technology and social progress that no doubt at one point seemed crazy and just a dream.
We need to have a backup solution, a plan B if plan A for some reason fails, we should buy this article, as far as I can see a single article costs $32, and we need to find more information about this new chinese sfuff, and then maybe to get in contact with researchers
http://ijl.sagepub.c.../4/264.abstract
They were successful in regenerating epidermis, oil glands, hair follicles, and even sweat glands, it's a big deal! 
I assume it is scar free healing, and it is applied research, not basic research, and clinical trials in China will not last 10-15 years, I could imagine it will last maybe a couple of years what is a reasonable timeframe for testing of a new drug.
And I just want to write a few words what I think: as I see it for the first time we have new stuffs that are able regenerate skin appendages like hair follicles, sebaceous glands, sweat glands I think it's important breakthrough in the treatment of scars, I hope I'm right. And if we add on that the fact that today there is a far greater number of new publications related to regenerative medicine and stem cells than before and that not so long ago there were many significant breakthroughs in regenerative medicine (artificial bladder, windpipes, ...) I hope it is the sign that we are not far from the time when we will see the light at the end of the tunnel, I hope that my thoughts are logically correct. 
And as long as regenerative medicine doesn't solve the problem of scarring there will be no cure for heart damage after a heart attack and for spinal cord injury.
Hydrogel for heart scarring:
http://uk.reuters.co...deoChannel=2603
Hydrogel for spinal cord scarring:
don't dream any more, chucknew dont give you anything , its only a newbie user teenager
Lol.
What is your goal in here Maldition? You post like 10 times a day and none of them are ever in the least bit productive.
Do you want to discuss and aid in the progression of scar free healing or are you simply trying to bring everyone else down?
Seriously. Why even post here if everything you say is extremely negative or even demeaning toward other users?
I've been biting my tongue, but now you've called me out individually.
Everyone here has two things in common - 1. We've got scars. 2. We believe that a potential solution could be possible and on the near horizon.
We're here to support each other and discuss and aid this potential solution.
Again, all you're doing is bringing others down. I sympathize with your pessimism, I really really do. Scars have admittedly made me rather pessimistic at times myself. But this is not a place for pessimism. This is a place for hope - for scar free healing. For a solution.
So as far as the criteria goes... 1. Clearly you have scars, but - 2. It seems you have absolutely no faith in any potential solution ever emerging. So my question is - Why are you even here??? There's nothing wrong with being critical or weary or questioning things, but you truly are telling users who come in here with hope of something great to give up, lose faith and that there will never be any answers to their pain - Why would you do that? Before you started flooding this forum with your negativity it was a hopeful and productive place. Now every time I get on I can't help but feel aggravated and depressed with all of your overwhelming negative posts. And now you're demeaning other individual users? There's no room for that in here.
Apologies for my rant but good lord.........
Anyway, I am not a teenager or a scar 'newbie'. (As if this has any relevancy.) Furthermore, my conversations with the JHU team have been very professional, productive and beneficial and I'm quite certain everyone in here is very happy to get information straight from the JHU team and will be very happy to potentially help push this thing along. In accordance with this, just so everyone else knows, I'm hoping to speak with Dr. Harmon again this upcoming week. So everyone keep your fingers crossed for good news. That includes you Maldition.
We need to have a backup solution, a plan B if plan A for some reason fails, we should buy this article, as far as I can see a single article costs $32, and we need to find more information about this new chinese sfuff, and then maybe to get in contact with researchers
http://ijl.sagepub.c.../4/264.abstract
They were successful in regenerating epidermis, oil glands, hair follicles, and even sweat glands, it's a big deal!
In my mind, this is the plan B as well. On one hand, I'm quite happy this discovery was made in China, because as we all know they move significantly faster. On the other, it's rather unfortunate in the sense that communication will be difficult...
Being the way that I am, I've already attempted to make contact with the Chinese team. Unfortunately, my attempts have been fruitless. It's going to be rather challenging to stay updated on this I fear. I wish we had a user from China, or some type of connection in China...
Well OK: is there anyone here who is Chinese or who speaks Chinese language to help us???
Halo. I happen to be a chinese. lol
Hello Anthonytong and welcome! 
We believe that researchers from the PLA General Hospital in Beijing have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of wounds as they claim they were successful in regenerating epidermis (the most outer layer of the skin) and skin appendages - hair follicles, sebaceous glands and sweat glands, as you maybe know those are very complex structures that normally do not grow in the scar tissue.
http://ijl.sagepub.c.../4/264.abstract
And it is also worth mentioning that the wounds on their mice were full thickness excisions (the worst possible kind of wounds) 10mm in diameter which means it was even larger that the wounds made by JHU researches that were 8mm in diameter.
And I can say thanks God it was discovered in China and not in the US since if it was discovered in the US it wouldn't be available to patients for a long time, most probably not before 2020 (the problem is the FDA), for example you can see that this company from the US plans to outsource clinical trials of its new scarless skin healing drug to China:
http://a216530356.oi..._d275057937.htm
Now the problem is that we don't have any additional information about their plans for the future, we need inside information, so you can see how chuckstonchew got in touch with researches from the Johns Hopkins University, we need someone to make a contact with researches from the PLA General Hospital and it would be the best if there is someone who knows fluent Chinese to do so, but of course the contact should be professional, do you think you can do that?
Well OK: is there anyone here who is Chinese or who speaks Chinese language to help us???
Halo. I happen to be a chinese. lol
Hello Anthonytong and welcome!
We believe that researchers from the PLA General Hospital in Beijing have made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of wounds as they claim they were successful in regenerating epidermis (the most outer layer of the skin) and skin appendages - hair follicles, sebaceous glands and sweat glands, as you maybe know those are very complex structures that normally do not grow in the scar tissue.
http://ijl.sagepub.c.../4/264.abstract
And it is also worth mentioning that the wounds on their mice were full thickness excisions (the worst possible kind of wounds) 10mm in diameter which means it was even larger that the wounds made by JHU researches that were 8mm in diameter.
And I can say thanks God it was discovered in China and not in the US since if it was discovered in the US it wouldn't be available to patients for a long time, most probably not before 2020 (the problem is the FDA), for example you can see that this company from the US plans to outsource clinical trials of its new scarless skin healing drug to China:
http://a216530356.oi..._d275057937.htm
Now the problem is that we don't have any additional information about their plans for the future, we need inside information, so you can see how chuckstonchew got in touch with researches from the Johns Hopkins University, we need someone to mak
a contact with researches from the PLA General Hospital and it would be the best if there is someone who knows fluent Chinese to do so, but of course the contact should be professional, do you think you can do that?
I am willing to help and will try my best. But the problem is the "new method" seems to use mesenchymal stem cell which is still not fully understood. So maybe it works but there's still a long road until it will appear in the market.