My hand surgeon told me that he thought collagenase would be risky since it dissolves collagen and both dupuytren AND tendons are made of collagen. So he is worried it could damage/dissolve tendons that the drug may come in contact with. Anyone know the science here to refute this or has someone been in the phase II trial already? Or maybe someone from Stonybrook or Biospecifics?

Normally I wouldn't cast doubt on the expert opinion of a surgeon but that comment just seems strange to me.

If you want to talk about a treatment that has risks - it's surgery, as I can tell you after having one on each hand. Things go wrong, tissue and nerves are damaged, various sorts of deterioration and atrophy can occur in the years that follow.

The idea with collagenase is not to inject enough to completely dissolve the band - just weaken it enough that it can be snapped.

Sure there's a risk, but the question is - how does the risk compare with that of surgery?

BTW these questions are probably moot as I now doubt collagenase will ever be available for Dupuytren's. The rights have been sold to another company (Auxilium) that seems only interested in marketing it for Peyronie's.

That's good news.

I guess I've gotten cynical about the "product pipeline" thing. It seems like a company will buy the rights to new products, then just use them as a honey pot to attract investment - which turns executive salaries and bonuses.

I hope Auxilium is different.

My Othopedist (who has done lots of surgeries)is very positive about the Collagenase treatment--and, in fact, strongly recommended I hold off surgery awaiting FDA approval--or that Stanford expand their test group to include more. He is located in San Francisco, so knows the Stanford doctors involved in testing. I have an appointment with him in a couple weeks, so should know more about what is going on with the Stanford test. Meanwhile, I made an appointment with Dr. Eaton the end of September since I have more confidence in NA than in surgery, and can't wait for the slow wheels of FDA to approve new methodology.