The substitute PolyHeme moves closer to approval with news that FDA intends to complete a priority review of the drug by April 30 2009: http://www.pipelinereview.com/content/view/24400/111/ The problem is that the Phase III clinical trial showcasing this drug didn't show much of a benefit. The idea is to stock it in ambulances to be administered to gunshot victims or car accident patients to reduce the amount of blood transfusions needed in the hospital. Pretty good idea on paper but didn't seem to affect much of anything in the field. How's this for a non-sequitur out of this study: "Based on the data from this study and data from previous in-hospital studies with PolyHeme we believe PolyHeme can provide a survival benefit to bleeding patients who don't have access to blood " concluded Dr. Moore." How's that? "there was no statistically significant difference in mortality at Day 30" Oh. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_/ai_n27403652 As a hematologist I can't wait for this technology to mature. I have faced patients with antibodies that prevent the effective matching of transfused blood and having a non-blood alternative to transfusion is attractive for me.