A Dose Escalation Study Using Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum in the Treatment of Lipoma

Lipomas are common mesenchymal, benign, fatty tumors of varying sizes that occur in the general adult population. They usually present as painful or annoying lumps that are palpable and often visible in the subcutaneous tissue. Many subcutaneous lipomas are asymptomatic and are removed for non-medical reasons. However, they may cause the subject pain or discomfort or interfere with normal activity.

Spontaneous remission of lipomas has not been reported. A lipoma, once it presents itself, remains there for the lifetime of a person who carries it and may stay small or become larger. Alternative treatments of the lipoma are surgery or liposuction. If a large excision is performed there is the problem of having a very large scar and the accompanying issues of healing a large scar, or possible formation of a hematoma followed by consolidation of the hematoma and the remnants of a mass of scar tissue. This is often painful and more problematic than the original lipoma. liposuction also has the potential for hematoma formation followed by scar mass residual.

To avoid the complications listed above, a non-invasive method of treatment, such as enzyme mediated disassociation of adipose tissue, would be desirable. The primary aim of this study is to perform a step-wise approach in dosing to evaluate the safety and efficacy of clostridium histolyticum as a non-operative treatment for lipoma.