More Setbacks for Blood SubstitutesMore Setbacks for Blood Substitutes

The long and tortured effort to create a safe and effective blood substitute suffered another setback yesterday when Northfield Laboratories Inc. (Evanston, IL) reported that in a study of its blood substitute, more patients receiving its treatment died than those who did not. But results for those treated exactly as specified were encouraging, the company said.

December 20, 2006

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Nonetheless, its shares plunged on the news, reports the New York Times and Bloomberg News. The trial was conducted without patients giving their informed consent, as they were too traumatized to do so. That protocol has caused much controversy and last week an FDA panel recommended against allowing Biopure (Cambridge, MA), a Northfield competitor, to conduct a similar trial. Today, Biopure asked FDA to approve a scaled-back version of the trial, reports Bloomberg. One has to wonder whether development of these products is hitting a dead end.

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