title: Strategies to improve drug development for sepsis.
abstract: Sepsis, a common and potentially fatal systemic illness, is triggered by microbial infection and often leads to impaired function of the lungs, kidneys or other vital organs. Since the early 1980s, a large number of therapeutic agents for the treatment of sepsis have been evaluated in randomized controlled clinical trials. With few exceptions, the results from these trials have been disappointing, and no specific therapeutic agent is currently approved for the treatment of sepsis. To improve upon this dismal record, investigators will need to identify more suitable therapeutic targets, improve their approaches for selecting candidate compounds for clinical development and adopt better designs for clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and Anesthesiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, 72-160 CHS, Los Angeles California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Mitchell P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Units, Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital East, 149 13th Street, Fifth Floor, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
authors.forename: H Shaw
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Warren
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D018805:Sepsis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology