Sepsis is a major cause of in-hospital death, with a higher mortality rate than events such as stroke and acute myocardial infarction, each with less than a 20% risk of death in the first 30 days. Sepsis is a clinical condition caused by the innate inflammatory host response to systemic infection that can result in organ failure and potentially death. Under certain circumstances, many components of the innate immune response that are normally involved with host defense can cause cell and tissue damage and subsequently multiple organ failure, the clinical hallmark of severe sepsis.~The host response to infection is characterized by the synthesis and release of proinflammatory cytokines. Cytokines are released by signals transmitted from the surface of inflammatory cells, after binding of pathogen-associated molecules to cell surface pattern recognition receptors known as toll-like receptors.~TAK-242 (resatorvid) is a toll-like receptor 4 inhibitor under clinical development for the treatment of patients with severe sepsis. Study participation is anticipated to be about 28 days, with an additional 9 month follow-up period.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of resatorvid on subjects with sepsis.