A wound dressing material for controlled activation of a wound healingtherapeutic compound in the presence of a protease enzyme in a wound fluid,the material comprising: a medically acceptable polymer a wound healingtherapeutic agent an inhibitor of the protease enzyme and a linker groupwhich is cleavable by the protease enzyme, wherein the activities of both thewound healing therapeutic agent and the inhibitor are increased by contactingthe wound dressing material with a wound fluid containing the protease enzyme.For example, the enzyme may be a matrix metalloproteinase, the therapeuticagent may be a reactive oxygen scavenger, and the inhibitor may be a tissueinhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP).
