Sepsis studies need new direction

Abstract

Sepsis is a disorder that has been recognised since Hippocratic times; medical students learn about it and most physicians would recognise it at the bedside, particularly when fully developed in a patient with septic shock. However, in the past few months, drotrecogin alfa (a human recombinant activated protein C), the only licensed product specifically indicated for the treatment of sepsis, has been withdrawn by the manufacturer because of a failure to confirm the first positive efficacy study.