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Why Collagenase Therapy? Anything so wide-spread as collagen is bound to develop problems. Our bodies can build too much of it. Or produce it in the wrong places. Or keep it after the proper time to leave. Healing processes can go awry -- producing pain, sores, dead or dying tissue of various kinds, and sites for infection: bedsores, keloid scarring, wounds that won't heal, and a variety of localized ailments up and down the body. In order to correct these conditions, collagen has to be resculpted: reduced and controlled. But this is not easy. Collagen is tough. It's hard to remodel collagen without killing other necessary molecules and cells. And here is where modern biotechnology and BioSpecifics Technologies come in. If we liken the collagen molecule to a train with amino acids as the cars, these cars can be uncoupled by the action of a remarkable protein enzyme we call collagenase. The living process is constant, with amino acid train cars shunted off a living polymer molecule by de-coupling. Collagenase works by clamping onto a particular spot in the molecular train car, in essence its coupling, and separating it. Only the coupling. Nothing else. The body produces its own collagenase – it’s necessary to survival. Sometimes the body's collagenase production is adequate, and sometimes not. When it isn't, then collagen still needs to be resculpted and regrown. And to do this, it needs a helping hand from additional collagenase. BioSpecifics has learned how to make collagenase in a concentrated, purified form. This is the technology we own. Our bacterial collagenase dissolves only the couplings of the collagen molecule train. The collagenase produced by the body does it one coupling per train; our bacterial collagenase dissolves the amino acid couplings at multiple sites along the collagen triple helix. Safely. You may have seen reports on the constantly growing body of clinical evidence showing how useful and important our collagenase can be. More and more doctors use collagenase for cleaning out charred, dead tissue when treating severe burns. This dead tissue has no circulation and therefore is a good target for all kinds of microbes. The dead tissue is held in place by collagen. Once collagenase reduces the tough dead collagen, germ-killing medicines can reach more of the area to ward off infection then the body’s own defenses can make new collagen and tissue form more quickly. It's the same with bedsores, one of the terrors of bedridden patients in or out of hospitals. Before collagenase, treating bedsores was frustrating and inefficient because the body's dead collagen got in the way of the healing process. Now, dead collagen can be effectively and conveniently removed with collagenase to improve wound management. Clinical trials for collagenase treatment of localized ailments like keloids, hypertrophic scars, Peyronie's Disease and Dupuytren's Disease are in progress in the United States. There is early evidence of collagenase's value in treating glaucoma, a very wide spread eye disease that can cause blindness. And fascinatingly, more and more evidence is coming to light showing how collagenase itself speeds the healing process in all kinds of wounds. Research goes on to discover additional uses. We are maintaining our leadership position in this area of biochemical research is developing even further.
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