Artificial Blood Experiment: Is Your City Participating?
Hospitals in Twenty Cities Take Part in Polyheme Trials
By ASA R. ESLOCKER and ASTRID HILL
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)
