Artificial Blood Experiment: Is Your City Participating?

By
ASA R. ESLOCKER and ASTRID HILL
July 10, 2006, 12:11 PM ET
3 min read

July 7, 2006 — -- Northfield Lab's experimental blood substitute Polyheme is currently in randomized phase III clinical trials recruiting patients without informed consent all over the country. At one point, it was being tested in as many as 27 cities; it is still being tested in 23 hospitals in 20 cities.

With the FDA's approval, Northfield Lab has recruited hospitals to participate in the trial study with exemption from informed consent requirements on study participants. Although Northfield Lab claims that extensive information on the study has been made public, a vast majority of the general public has never heard of the trial.

Below is a list of the cities and hospitals that are currently participating in the Polyheme trials. Check the list to see if you live an area where you could become a trial participant without your informed consent.

To opt out of the study, contact Northfield Labs (http://www.northfieldlabs.com/contact.html) or a participating hospital and request a blue bracelet. If worn, you will be exempt from the trial.

California

UC San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, Calif.; No longer recruiting

Scripps Mercy, San Diego, Calif.; No longer recruiting

Colorado

Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colo.

Delaware

Christiana Hospital, Newark, Del.

Georgia

Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon, Ga.

Illinois

Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Ill.

Indiana

Wishard Memorial Hospital, Indianapolis, Ind.

Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis, Ind.

Kansas

University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan.

Kentucky

University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Ky.

Michigan

Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, Mich.

Sinai Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich.

Minnesota

The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

New York

Albany Medical Center, Albany, N.Y.; Suspended

North Carolina

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

Ohio

MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio; Suspended

University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio

Pennsylvania

Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Penn.; No longer recruiting

St. Luke's Regional Resource Trauma Center, Bethlehem, Penn.

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Penn.

Tennessee

University of Tennessee-Memphis, Memphis, Tenn.

Johnson City Medical Center, Johnson City, Tenn.; Suspended

Texas

Memorial-Hermann Hospital, Houston, Texas; No longer recruiting

Memorial-Hermann Hospital, Houston, Texas; No longer recruiting

University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas

Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam, Houston, Texas

Utah

University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah

Virginia

Sentara Norfolk Hospital, Norfolk, Va.; No longer recruiting

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Va.

Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Va.; Suspended

West Virginia

West Virginia University/Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center, Morgantown, West Va.

(source: www.clinicaltrials.gov where it says "Verified by Northfield Laboratories June 2006)(http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00076648?order=1)