London: Researchers have launched worldwide trials of a drug that boosts the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body, and can aid faster recovery of patients with heavy blood loss. MP4OX is made from expired blood stocks and seeks to replicate the function of red blood cells in carrying oxygen around the body. The Royal London Hospital is leading the clinical trials and it is being given to patients with heavy blood loss in 56 centres around the world, the BBC News reported.
MP4OX developed by US pharmaceutical company Sangart is a haemoglobin-based product processed from expired blood transfusion stocks. Haemoglobin molecules are the proteins in red blood cells which carry oxygen to muscles and tissue around the body. In trauma patients who have undergone heavy blood loss, these molecules are in short supply, and its makers claim MP4OX can deliver an oxygen boost to organs and tissue in the body, reducing the risk of organ failure.
They say it carries no infection risk and can be given safely to all patients. "We're giving it to people who been severely injured in car crashes, have fallen out of a window, been stabbed etc," Professor Karim Brohi, of the Barts and The Royal London Hospital, said. "Basically it's a drug which takes up oxygen and delivers it to cells which are starved of oxygen because there's not enough blood going around the body," he added.
The drug has already been tested in a
04:54 PM, Oct 01, 2012
