Bayers sepsis trial failed. Bayer is aware of Xoma's work in this area. Bayer would be a logical partner, and I think Merck would also. Merck has a vaccine for Meningococcemia as well as an interest in anti infective drugs.
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BAYER AG ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL SEPSIS FORUM
:: This press release is transmitted on behalf of Bayer AG
Brussels, Belgium, March 18 - Bayer AG announced today plans to establish
an International Sepsis Forum dedicated to improving the awareness,
understanding and clinical management of sepsis and septic shock. Claiming in
excess of 200,000 lives each year in the United States alone, septic shock is
one of the most common causes of death in hospital intensive care units
worldwide.
The establishment of the International Sepsis Forum (ISF) was announced at
the 17th Annual International Symposium of Intensive Care and Emergency
Medicine (ISICEM) by Professor Jean-Louis Vincent, MD, PhD, Chairman of the
ISICEM and Clinical Director of Intensive Care at the Erasme University
Hospital, Free University in Brussels. The ISICEM is being held March 18-21 at
the Congress Centre in Brussels.
The ISF will be supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Bayer
AG. Directed by an independent Steering Committee made up of international
experts on sepsis and its treatment, the ISF will sponsor lectures and symposia
and issue a series of publications on sepsis and septic shock management.
Additionally, the ISF will develop educational materials to keep physicians and
other medical personnel up-to-date on the latest developments relating to the
number one infectious killer in intensive care units.
''The establishment of this Forum is precisely what we have needed for some
time in order to more successfully coordinate the worldwide battle against
sepsis,'' said Professor Vincent, who serves as a member of the ISF Steering
Committee.
Sepsis is the medical term for a life-threatening, systemic reaction to
infection, and its symptoms include elevated temperature, heart rate and
respiration. Unless successfully treated, sepsis progresses to septic shock,
organ failure, and death.
The incidence of sepsis and septic shock has risen substantially in the
last decade due to an increase in the number of susceptible individuals
including surgical patients, the elderly, AIDS patients, organ transplant
recipients, and other immune compromised patients. Although newer antibiotics
and intensive care technologies have been helpful in the management of septic
shock, death rates have changed little in the past 20 years. Those that
survive, generally require about two weeks of intensive-care hospitalisation,
at a cost of more than US dollars 5 billion per year in the United States
alone.
''The ISF represents a commitment to saving lives,'' said Gordon Bernard, MD,
Chairman of the ISF Steering Committee. ''The primary goal of the Forum is to
achieve international consensus on key scientific research and clinical issues
in sepsis treatment, and to develop practical treatment guidelines for those
treating sepsis patients.'' Dr. Bernard, an internationally renowned expert on
sepsis, is Professor of Medicine and Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit,
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, in Nashville, Tennessee.
''We expect that the ISF will provide resources and support for new ideas
that will help shape the future of the treatment and management of sepsis and
septic shock,'' said Professor Dr. Dieter Maruhn, Head of Anti-Infectives
Product Development at Bayer.
Professor Maruhn also noted that Bayer was among the companies at the
forefront of sepsis research and has a promising septic shock treatment in
clinical trials. If that treatment is found to be successful, there will be
ethical, socio-economic, and treatment issues related to its use which a group
such as the ISF will be uniquely situated to deal with.
''We will need guidance on these delicate issues and we believe that the
ISF, led by Dr. Bernard and other leaders in the field, is the body to provide
that guidance to Bayer,'' Maruhn said.
Bayer is an international research-based company with major businesses in
life sciences, chemicals and imaging technology. With 142,000 employees
worldwide, Bayer recorded a global earnings of DM 2.7 billion after tax on
sales of DM 48.6 billion in 1996.
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