# A therapy for improving diabetic ulcer healing

> **NIH NIH R43** · ADEPTHERA, LLC · 2023 · $335,342

## Abstract

Diabetic ulcer is one of the major complications of diabetes mellitus because of poor management of
hyperglycemia. The prevalence of diabetic ulcer ranges from 14 to 24% among diabetes patients. In the U.S.,
diabetic ulcer affects over 900,000 peoples a year, and leads to >80,000 limb amputations annually. It was
estimated that the management of diabetic ulcers represents over one third of the total cost of treatment of
diabetes complications in developed countries. Current management of diabetic ulcers mainly focuses on the
elimination of infection, the use of dressings to maintain a moist wound bed, offloading high pressure in the
extremities, and debridement to improve healing. Although these measures have improved the survival of
patients, there is a lack of pharmacotherapy that can substantially improve the healing of chronic wounds in
diabetes patients. Clearly, novel therapeutics that can improve wound healing and prevent the recurrence of
chronic ulcers in diabetes are much needed. Recent advance has shown that adrenomedullin family peptides
play crucial roles in the regulation of vasculogenesis and immune response, and can protect against diabetes-
associated etiology. These peptides have also been shown to accelerate wound healing, perhaps by improving
angiogenesis, immune response, vascular permeability, and tissue regeneration in wound sites. Because
these peptides have poor stability in vivo, they are poor drug candidates. To overcome this obstacle, we have
developed a series of super-agonistic analogs that self-assemble to form gels in situ and slowly release the
monomeric analog in vivo. Based on this discovery, we propose to develop an analog gel therapy for
accelerating wound healing in diabetes patients by improving re-epithelialization, granulation, blood flow, and
revascularization within the wound environment. In the proposed study, we will (1) identify an optimal gel
formulation that provides sustained and localized treatment in vivo and (2) investigate the efficacy of the
selected analog gel on wound healing in two rodent diabetic ulcer models. Successful development of this
novel hormonal therapy has the potential to significantly reduce the mortality and morbidity resulting from
nonhealing foot ulcers among diabetes patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10820107
- **Project number:** 1R43DK138554-01
- **Recipient organization:** ADEPTHERA, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** SHEAU-YU Teddy HSU
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $335,342
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10820107

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10820107, A therapy for improving diabetic ulcer healing (1R43DK138554-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10820107. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*