• Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Longtermism)
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Contact Us
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!
  • Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Longtermism)
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Contact Us
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center — Sepsis Therapy Clinical Trial (Michael Donnino)

Visit Grantee Site
  • Portfolio Area: Human Health and Wellbeing
  • Focus Area: Scientific Research
  • Organization Name: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • Amount: $2,939,400

  • Award Date: January 2018

Table of Contents

    Dr. Donnino will lead research on a sepsis treatment with ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) combined with hydrocortisone and thiamine. (Photo courtesy of Joel Haskell)

    Grant investigators: Chris Somerville and Heather Youngs

    This page was reviewed but not written by the grant investigators. Drs. Donnino and Marik reviewed this page prior to publication.

    The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $2,939,400 to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to support a multicenter clinical trial of a new therapy for severe sepsis, led by Dr. Michael Donnino of Harvard. Sepsis, most commonly the result of bacterial infection of the lungs or other organs, is a significant cause of mortality both in the United States and worldwide, resulting in an estimated 5.3 million deaths annually.1

    The trial will test the utility of a therapy first described by Dr. Paul E. Marik and colleagues, which involved administering a combination of drugs that included hydrocortisone and thiamine with ascorbic acid to treat patients with severe sepsis.2 Dr. Marik’s treatment suggested significant improvements in outcomes, however the study was small and not randomized, and so the results are merely suggestive of impact. The new trial, led by Dr. Donnino with Dr. Marik as a co-investigator, is intended to more rigorously test the treatment through a larger, randomized study. If shown to be effective, we believe the treatment could be adopted relatively quickly around the world, as the necessary components are both inexpensive and readily available. We therefore view this funding as an opportunity to substantially accelerate the adoption of a potentially life-saving therapy.

    We originally became aware of this opportunity through this blog post.3 We initially did not see an opportunity to accelerate progress because plans for other trials were underway. We chose to fund this trial despite the fact that other trials are planned because we believe that this trial is likely to be completed earlier than others, leading to swifter adoption if the treatment succeeds.

    This grant falls within our interest in funding scientific research.

    Sources

    DOCUMENT SOURCE
    Assessment of Global Incidence and Mortality of Hospital-treated Sepsis Source (archive)
    Hydrocortisone, Vitamin C, and Thiamine for the Treatment of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: A Retrospective Before-After Study, 2017 Source (archive)
    Otium Blog, Sepsis Cure Needs An RCT, April 2017 [archive only] Source
    Expand Footnotes Collapse Footnotes

    1.“…a tentative extrapolation from high-income country data suggests global estimates of 31.5 million sepsis and 19.4 million severe sepsis cases, with potentially 5.3 million deaths annually.” Assessment of Global Incidence and Mortality of Hospital-treated Sepsis. Current Estimates and Limitations, 2016

    2.“In this retrospective before-after clinical study, we compared the outcome and clinical course of consecutive septic patients treated with intravenous vitamin C, hydrocortisone, and thiamine during a 7-month period (treatment group) with a control group treated in our ICU during the preceding 7 months. The primary outcome was hospital survival … Our results suggest that the early use of intravenous vitamin C, together with corticosteroids and thiamine, are effective in preventing progressive organ dysfunction, including acute kidney injury, and in reducing the mortality of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Additional studies are required to confirm these preliminary findings.” Hydrocortisone, Vitamin C, and Thiamine for the Treatment of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: A Retrospective Before-After Study, 2017

    3.Archived copy of link: @Otium Blog, Sepsis Cure Needs An RCT, April 2017 [archive only]@

    Related Items

    • Human Health and Wellbeing

      Charak Foundation — Ramatroban Clinical Trial

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $195,600 to the Charak Foundation to fund the initial stages of a clinical trial of ramatroban for the suppression of life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19...

      Read more
    • Human Health and Wellbeing

      Yale University — Cardiovascular Research

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $400,000 to Yale University to support research related to atherosclerosis, stroke, and cardiovascular function. This funding will go towards the purchase of...

      Read more
    • Human Health and Wellbeing

      University of Notre Dame — Biofilm-Resistant Catheters

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $850,000 over three years to the University of Notre Dame to support work led by Professor Ana Flores-Mireles on developing a catheter design that...

      Read more
    Back to Grants Database
    Open Philanthropy
    Open Philanthropy
    • Careers
    • Press Kit
    • Governance
    • Privacy Policy
    • Stay Updated
    Mailing Address
    Open Philanthropy
    182 Howard Street #225
    San Francisco, CA 94105
    Email
    [email protected]
    Media Inquiries
    [email protected]
    Anonymous Feedback
    Feedback Form

    © Open Philanthropy 2022 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License. If you'd like to translate this content into another language, please get in touch!