# Translational Challenges in Drug Therapy and Delivery Systems for Treating Chronic Lower Extremity Wounds

## TL;DR

This paper reviews challenges in developing drugs for chronic lower extremity wounds due to differences between animal models and human wounds.

## Contribution

The paper provides insights into translational challenges and new drug technologies for chronic wound treatment.

## Key findings

- There is a lack of market-approved drugs for chronic lower extremity wounds despite promising preclinical studies.
- Key differences exist between animal models and human chronic wound microenvironments.
- New drug technologies and delivery systems are being explored to address these challenges.

## Abstract

Despite several promising preclinical studies performed over the past two decades, there remains a paucity of market-approved drugs to treat chronic lower extremity wounds in humans. This translational gap challenges our understanding of human chronic lower extremity wounds and the design of wound treatments. Current targeted drug treatments and delivery systems for lower extremity wounds rely heavily on preclinical animal models meant to mimic human chronic wounds. However, there are several key differences between animal preclinical wound models and the human chronic wound microenvironment, which can impact the design of targeted drug treatments and delivery systems. To explore these differences, this review delves into recent new drug technologies and delivery systems designed to address the chronic wound microenvironment. It also highlights preclinical models used to test drug treatments specific for the wound microenvironments of lower extremity diabetic, venous, ischemic, and burn wounds. We further discuss key differences between preclinical wound models and human chronic wounds that may impact successful translational drug treatment design.