Sepsis occurs when there is a dysregulated host response to infection, resulting in organ dysfunction. According to the Global Burden of Disease study, about 50 million people annually worldwide develop severe sepsis or septic shock, and 11 million of them die. Growing evidence suggests that changes to the vascular endothelium, which becomes more permeable to fluid, protein and inflammatory cells, are behind the pathogenesis of sepsis and septic shock.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have developed a device designed to collect exhaled respiratory aerosols from mechanically ventilated patients. Their device is designed to be non-invasive, highly efficient and can be readily placed in the exhalation line of ventilators without interfering in the functions of the ventilator.

Despite what University of Pennsylvania (Penn) immunotherapy pioneer Carl June referred to as a “cold slap last November” – a launched investigation by the U.S. FDA into a possible link between CAR T-cell immunotherapies and secondary cancers – new unpublished studies by Penn and Stanford University highlight the rarity of such cases.

Less than a week ago, executives at Lyra Therapeutics Inc. were looking ahead to “imminent” data from its first phase III study in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), testing drug-device candidate LYR-210, a drug-device candidate largely expected to fill a much-needed gap in CRS treatment. On Monday, May 6, they were announcing plans to preserve cash in the wake of the failed Enlighten 1 study, which raised doubts as to the feasibility of the company’s CRS programs, which also include the similarly designed candidate LYR-220.

There is a compelling need to produce new antibiotics that hamper severe opportunistic infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals, such as those caused by gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Amicetin-inspired inhibitors of the P-site (AIIPS), also known as CZ-02s, are a series of molecules that target and inhibit a unique site of the bacterial ribosome.

Cytovale Inc. has posted a feverish run of wins lately. The company gained U.S. FDA clearance for its Intellisep rapid test for sepsis in January 2023, raised $84 million in a series C in November and just published results showing the test has negative predictive value of 97.5%.

There is still a need for developing more potent and broadly neutralizing vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 with improved durability. At the recent ESCMID meeting, Astrazeneca plc presented a new mRNA vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that encodes for self-assembling virus-like particle (VLP) antigens.