Diabetes represents an extremely large problem in today’s society, affecting approximately 25 million people. There are a large number of complications associated with diabetes, including increased heart disease and stroke caused by the narrowing of blood vessels due to fat deposits, leading to restricted blood flow. When severe, this restricted blood flow can lead to critical limb ischemia (CLI). This in turn can lead to nerve damage, ulcers or foot wounds that won’t heal and potentially, amputation. Indeed, 90% of lower extremity amputations results from non-healing wounds and 17% of diabetic patients will develop a foot ulcer within 3 years.

During diabetes, biologically available NO is greatly reduced resulting in defective blood vessel function and blunted wound healing responses. Recent studies from Dr. Kevil’s laboratory show that nitrite therapy significantly enhances diabetic ischemic hind limb blood flow and enhances wound healing responses.

Images to the left readily demonstrate that diabetic wounds treated with vehicle control remain open and poorly healed 14 days after injury. Conversely, daily nitrite therapy significantly enhances closure of diabetic wounds and restoration of tissue perfusion. These exciting discoveries provide the foundation for our second product, a nitrite agent which shows great potential for the treatment of diabetic ulcers, chronic wound management and many other applications.