Sangart Completes Enrollment In Phase III Study Of Its Novel Blood Substitute Hemospan

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Blood / Hematology;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 25 Mar 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Sangart, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of blood substitutes, announced that it has completed enrollment in a Phase III trial of its lead product Hemospan(R).

The completed study of 460 patients is one of two parallel Phase III clinical trials being conducted at 36 academic medical centers in the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic. The two randomized, placebo-controlled studies, which will enroll a combined total of more than 800 elective orthopedic surgery patients, are designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Hemospan in preventing and treating hemodynamic instability, especially hypotension, or low blood pressure, during surgery.

"We are pleased to have completed enrollment in this Phase III study," said Dr. Robert Winslow, Chairman, President and CEO of Sangart. "This represents a major milestone for Sangart as we continue to gather evidence of Hemospan's potential to satisfy the significant and growing demand for a safe and effective agent to improve oxygen transport in clinical settings where blood is often transfused."

Sangart also announced that enrollment in the second Phase III study is progressing well and is expected to be completed in the near future.

No similar oxygen transport agents are currently on the market in Europe or the United States. Earlier clinical studies indicate that Hemospan's novel oxygen delivery mechanism has the potential to provide a safe and effective alternative to blood transfusions.

About Sangart

Sangart is a privately held San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of medical products designed for use as alternatives to blood transfusions.

Dr. Robert Winslow, a world-renowned authority in the field of oxygen transport, founded Sangart in 1998. In the two decades prior to founding Sangart, Dr. Winslow and his colleagues studied and defined mechanisms of oxygen transport by cell-free hemoglobin solutions, funded by competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. The counterintuitive discoveries by Dr. Winslow's group on the effective action of oxygen transport agents have been patented and published in numerous scientific articles. From this experience, Sangart's lead product, Hemospan, was designed using unique polyethylene glycol conjugation to create a hemoglobin-based product that is intended to serve as an alternative to donated blood.

The key breakthroughs in the development of Hemospan were the understanding of the mechanisms of vasoconstriction and the development of simplified production methods that are designed to make the final product commercially viable. These breakthroughs laid the groundwork for Sangart's business concept of developing cost-effective oxygen carriers that can be used in lieu of transfused red blood cells during episodes of temporary blood loss, such as surgery or trauma.

To learn more about Sangart, please visit the company's website at http://www.sangart.com.

Sangart, Inc.
http://www.sangart.com