Chronic wounds -- wounds that fail to heal in an appropriate time -- are a huge medical challenge, with the NHS spending over £6bn each year on their treatment. These wounds also have a major impact on patients' quality-of-life, causing both physical and psychological suffering. Worryingly, the number of people with chronic wounds is increasing rapidly, due to ageing populations, growing antibiotic resistance and the rise in conditions such as diabetes. To relieve the financial pressure on health services, and to improve the lives of patients, new solutions must be found to improve healing of chronic wounds. One way to achieve this is through more effective debridement, the removal of debris and dead or infected tissue in the wound. This can be done in different ways -- using dressings, surgically, or using products with enzymes that dissolve dead tissue -- but these methods are inefficient, painful or require expert medical staff. Despite negative public perception, the use of live maggots to break down dead tissue and clean the wound is a medically proven and accepted method of biological debridement. However, it is costly and difficult to raise maggots and apply them to wounds, and patients are understandably reluctant to have living larvae in an open wound. SolasCure Ltd, working closely with leading healthcare institutions and wound-care experts, has identified the enzyme in maggot saliva that is key to their wound cleaning, and has used molecular methods to manufacture this enzyme, 'Aurase', cheaply and in large quantities. Crucially, we have now demonstrated that Aurase is safe to use and that it has exceptional potential as a tool for chronic wound debridement. Before this product can be brought to the market, there are two vital steps to take, and these are the goals of this project: 1\. To optimise the formulation of Aurase and packaging so that it can be efficiently used, stored and shipped 2\. To ensure that the maximum amount of this enzyme reaches the wound surface By achieving these goals, we will be able to deliver a new product to speed up healing of chronic wounds -- one that is low-cost, fast, effective and pain-free, and that can be used by patients at home as well as by professionals across diverse healthcare settings. This product will help to address the immense economic challenges caused by chronic wounds and will improve the everyday lives of millions of patients.

Access to and delivery of affordable wound care are significant challenges to chronic wound patients. Globally, over 40 million people suffer from chronic wounds, and the economic burden of chronic wound treatment exceeds €100 billion annually. 1-2% of the populations of developed countries will experience a chronic wound in their lifetime. Chronic wounds can severely diminish a person’s quality of life. Current treatment solutions are inadequate. Responding to this need, SolasCure is developing an investigational product, Aurase Wound Gel, a hydrogel containing a highly-specific enzyme, isolated and cloned from medical maggots. The medical use of Aurase Wound Gel aims to lead to faster wound cleaning, a precondition to healing - promoting better patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs. With the help of EIC, SolasCure aims to conduct Clinical Phase 2b trials and to establish a dry formulation of Aurase Wound Gel & its optimisation.