In this study of critically injured trauma patients with major hemorrhage, artesunate did not improve organ dysfunction and was potentially associated with an increased VTE risk.

Future studies that focus on immune responses to injury and associated clinical forms of MODS may elucidate the reasons for this and facilitate identification of alternative pharmaceutical agents that attenuate MODS in trauma hemorrhage.

The trial was terminated after enrolment of 90 patients because of safety concerns.

83 participants received artesunate (n = 54) or placebo (n = 29) and formed the safety population and 75 met per-protocol criteria (48 artesunate, 27 placebo).

Admission characteristics were similar between groups (overall 88% male, median age 29 years, median injury severity score 22), except participants who received artesunate were more shocked (median base deficit 9 vs. 4.7, p = 0.042).

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