Northfield Labs buys manufacturing facility
of human hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers, has splashed out $6.7m
(€5.2m) to buy a plant it previously leased in Illinois, as it
edges closer to commercialising its only product.
The 106,000-square foot property in Mount Prospect will be used for Northfield's first planned commercial facility for the manufacture of PolyHeme, the company's oxygen-carrying red blood cell substitute.
Engineering and size optimisation activities for the space are already underway and it is expected that the facility will be capable of producing approximately 100,000 units or more of PolyHeme annually.
"Purchasing the building where we will manufacture PolyHeme is a major step toward realising our commercialisation plans," said Northfield Laboratories CEO Steven Gould.
"Owning the space allows us the autonomy and flexibility we need to meet the anticipated market demand for a product that has the potential to sustain lives that otherwise might be lost."
PolyHeme has been rapidly infused in trauma patients during urgent life-threatening blood loss in sufficiently large quantities to be considered well-tolerated in this patient population.
Patient enrollment is nearing completion in a Phase III, randomised, controlled open-label, multicenter, parallel group study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PolyHeme when used to treat severely injured patients in hemorrhagic shock before they reach a hospital.
Approximately 700 patients of the planned total of 720 for the trial have been enrolled at trauma centers across the United States.
