Disclosed herein are fully synthetic polymer-based lung surfactant materials, for the first time, as next generation SRT. In vitro studies on these polymer lung surfactants show that the candidate materials effectively mimic the surface tension controlling properties of currently marketed natural lung surfactants. Further, the polymer lung surfactants have strong protein resistance, which makes this class of materials promising also for potential use in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) treatment.