Relaxin, a two-chain
peptide from the
insulin family that regulates the turnover of connective tissue, is being developed by Connetics and Celltech for the potential treatment of
infertility and
labor complications. It was also under development by the companies for scleroderma, but development has been discontinued for this indication due to disappointing results in its phase III trial [385058,385485]. In addition, Connetics is conducting preclinical studies to evaluate the potential use of
relaxin for the treatment of organ
fibrosis and
infertility [311269].
Relaxin may also have potential for development in the treatment of other
connective tissue diseases. In October 2000, preclinical results assessing the ability of
relaxin to selectively induce angiogenesis were published [387968]. The results showed
relaxin induced significantly more blood vessel growth at ischemic sites compared to animals treated with vehicle alone and, when administered systemically, it did not cause an increase in
VEGF in non-
wound cells. The data suggest that
relaxin may be useful in the treatment of ischemic conditions [387968]. Connetics presented data at the Wound Healing Society 2000 meeting in Toronto, which suggested that
relaxin could be an effective treatment for non-healing
ulcers as it improves blood flow to
oxygen-deprived tissue. The presented research demonstrated that
relaxin stimulated wound healing when administered to animals with impaired blood flow, or a genetic defect rendering them diabetic [370335].