[Zinc-hyaluronate: ana original organotherapeutic compound of Gedeon Richter Ltd]

Manufacturing of organotherapeutic products is the most long-standing activity of Gedeon Richter Ltd dating back to the establishment of the company in 1901. By the 1940s the company had manufactured and marketed about one hundred preparations containing tissue extracts from animals. As a result of the development of synthetic molecules, organic therapy fell into the background after World War II. Although the company followed this tendency, it continued manufacturing some organotherapeutic products as well in accordance with the requirements of the time. Since the 1950s the researchers of the company have worked on the research of glycosaminoglycans introducing the manufacture of heparin, and followed by the research of hyaluronic acid (hyaluronan) in the middle of the 1980s. In the human body hyaluronan is one of the main components of the extracellular matrix, where both in passive and active manner it affects the cellular functions through its viscoelastic molecular property and hyaluronan receptors of cells. In certain therapeutic fields such as dermatology, ophthalmology, surgery and rheumatology, these biological features of hyaluronan are used. Although most of the hyaluronan products contain sodium-hyaluronate (Na-Hy), Richter's researchers found that another metal salt of hyaluronic acid such as zinc-hyaluronate (Zn-Hy) might be more favourable in some therapeutic areas than Na-Hy. Based on this theory, Gedeon Richter Ltd. developed its original zinc associate of hyaluronic acid. It is marketed under the trade name of Curiosin intended for dermatological application including promoting of wound healing. According to the results of preclinical studies on wound healing the pharmacological profile of Zn-Hy was more favourable than that of Na-Hy, proving the free radical scavenging, antioxidant, proinflammatory effects of Zn-Hy as well as the acceleration of chronic wound healing. In clinical studies Curiosin showed its efficacy in the healing of chronic and acute wounds.