Northfield Laboratories Inc. '07 Q1 reports $7.6 million loss

Northfield ended the first quarter of its 2007 fiscal year with a net loss of $0.28 per share. Despite the economic loss, it was a positive quarter with the completion of a Phase III study of PolyHeme(R), the company's oxygen-carrying red blood cell substitute. Results of the study, which enrolled 720 patients, are expected before the end of 2006. In August ('06) Northfield submitted an application for Fast Track designation for PolyHeme for both product and a specific indication for use.

PolyHeme, a solution of chemically modified human hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body, is reported to be compatible with all blood types with a shelf-life of more than 12 months.

Northfield has been in the research and development phase for a blood substitute for blood since 1985, sinking more the $180 million in its efforts. It has no products and says it cannot estimate projected sales for its PolyHeme.

Northfield Laboratories Inc.'s '07 Q1 press release linked here.

Northfield's Phase III PolyHeme study has been criticized by some due to the fact that patients in the study did not participate after giving their "informed consent."

Lisa Richwine writing for Reuters reports that researchers on Wednesday (10/11/06) told U.S. officials

"We as a society have a moral and ethical obligation to find more effective and safe therapies. It's not possible to conduct life-saving research in the emergency setting without an exemption to informed consent," said Dr. Joseph Ornato, who spoke on behalf of the National Institutes of Health Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium.

PolyHeme is a solution of chemically modified human hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Northfield says its product is compatible with all blood types, adding that it has a shelf-life of more than 12 months.

Read Robert Steyer writing for TheStreet.com on his take of Northfield linked here.

Northfield's Steven A. Gould, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting at the BIO Investor Forum Thursday, October 19, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. PT. Webcast linked here.