Lay summary
Key to managing many patients with significant illness is the preservation of sufficient oxygen delivery. When patients are very unwell this process can become compromised and mechanical ventilation is required. Unfortunately, the process of mechanically forcing air into a patient’s lungs can itself cause additional damage to the lung tissue. This is called ventilator induced lung injury (VILI) and characterised by swollen and inflamed lungs. This makes gas exchange less efficient and adversely affects patient outcomes. Here we propose to test a new class of drug treatment that is intended to prevent the ventilator injury from being initiated and progressing.