Emerging therapies for treatment of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

In 2007, Bosma et. al provided a comprehensive review of emerging therapies for the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a condition which continues to carry a mortality rate of greater than 30%. Over the past several years, the development of novel and effective therapeutic agents for ARDS remains disappointing, and unfortunately, no recent therapeutic interventions have demonstrated a clear benefit. Herein, the results of several of these early and late phase clinical trials are reviewed, the majority of which address known maladaptive processes that have been deemed critical in ARDS pathophysiology. Based on the ongoing futility of current therapeutic models to yield effective therapies, it is speculated whether or not novel treatment paradigms, which address distinctly different aspects of this disease paradigm, may be warranted.