Who was studied
Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection; the CDC, the US public health agency, calls it a medical emergency.
The TESTS trial, published in the medical journal BMJ in 2025, assigned 1,106 adults with sepsis in Chinese hospitals to treatment groups.
People received the peptide or a dummy shot, and neither patients nor the staff giving treatment knew which they received.
What the comparison showed
Within 28 days, about 23 out of every 100 patients counted in the peptide group died.
In the dummy-shot group, about 24 out of every 100 died during that same period.
The trial found no clear difference between those groups.
TESTS disclosed support from SciClone Pharmaceuticals, the medicine's maker; some authors also received grants or fees from it.
Why earlier headlines can sound different
A smaller 2013 sepsis trial had suggested a possible benefit, which the larger trial did not confirm.
These trials involved people ill enough to be in hospital; they do not establish a benefit for healthy adults.