Sepsis-specific therapies are desperately needed but hard to develop, says GlobalData

There is an urgent need to develop sepsis-specific therapies, according to research by consulting firm GlobalData, since bacterial resistance is becoming an ever-increasing problem.

Marc Hansel, an analyst with GlobalData covering infectious diseases, has said more people die every year from sepsis than lung or bowel cancer. Dr Hansel commented: “The only treatment options currently available for sepsis patients are the timely administration of antimicrobials and supportive care, but these methods fall short of meeting the needs of seriously ill patients. Key opinion leaders have indicated to GlobalData that therapies targeted at sepsis patients suffering from coagulopathy, endotoxemia, acute kidney injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and/or immunosuppression are desperately needed to help supplement antibiotics.”

He notes products such as AM-Pharma’s recombinant human alkaline phosphatase for sepsis patients with acute kidney injury, but most of these are years away from regulatory approval and coming to the market.