BIOMEDICINE
Perflubron emulsion looks like skim milk, but it's thicker than water - during surgery, it can substitute for blood. Developed by San Diego-based Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., it soon will be marketed as Oxygent.
Transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body, as red blood cells do, Oxygent improves on the real thing during a long operation: There's no hepatitis or HIV risk, as with donated blood, and no possibility of A/O-positive mistakes (Oxygent is compatible with all blood types). And because the stuff is manufactured, not extracted from human volunteers, shortages shouldn't be a problem.
It works like this: As a patient is prepared for surgery, a few pints of blood are removed and stored, and Oxygent is pumped in to restore blood volume. During the operation, the surgeon can give Oxygent when any transfusion is called for. At the close of the procedure and during recovery, the patient's own blood is returned to the body.
Alliance says its tests have shown that, when refrigerated, Oxygent has a two-year shelf life. Blood lasts only six weeks. The milky liquid, however, has yet to get FDA clearance - red tape that the red stuff naturally avoids. It's in human trials in the US now; Alliance (www.allp.com) expects US approval in 2001, and it's just been cleared to market Oxygent in Europe. It's already on a pace to pump out 800,000 units annually.
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