Problems associated with the healing of skin wounds result in much suffering and expensive treatments that are often unsatisfactory. There is a significant unmet medical need for an effective wound healing treatment, for both humans and animals, with a corresponding commercial opportunity.

Normal wound healing requires the influx of cells, matrix remodelling and the formation of new blood vessels at the wound site through a process collectively called “cell activation”. Once the skin has been repaired, the cells “de-activate”, thus returning to their original resting state. Normal wound healing reflects a balance between cell activation in response to tissue injury and cell de-activation at the completion of the healing process. Disruption of these processes can result in non-healing, chronic, ulcers (i.e. failure of cell activation) or excessive new tissue formation or scarring (i.e. failure of cell de-activation).

Chronic skin ulcers are particularly common in the elderly and people with diabetes. Leg wounds in horses are often slow to heal and prone to develop excessive tissue or “proud flesh”.

The Founders of TRT have identified a novel protein, Migration Stimulating Factor (MSF), which is not normally present in the skin but is transiently up-regulated during wound healing. MSF exhibits a number of potent bioactivities required for cell activation during the wound healing process. Its mode of action is uniquely different from that of other cell activation proteins. TRT's founding scientists discovered that the activity of MSF resides primarily in a short peptide motif. Most importantly, they determined the structure of MSF's active motif and developed small, stable and easily manufactured drug-like molecules - like the one in the upper right of this page - that mimic MSF, producing the same range of relevant therapeutic activities as the MSF protein. When applied to wounds on diabetic mice (a commonly-used preclinical model of impaired wound healing) these molecules significantly promoted wound healing at very low concentrations. In a recent horse trial, TRT’s lead compound stimulated wound healing in leg wounds and appeared to prevent proud flesh formation.

TRT is actively searching for partners and investors