Human Blood As A Blood Substitute

As expected, with war comes extensive injuries. During WWI, it took a wounded soldier about 24 hours to travel from the battlefield to a hospital. Many times, the soldiers did not live through that excruciating 24 hours. The wounds inflicted on many soldiers led to the development of new medical techniques and improvements (iWonder 2015). The quickly rising death toll during WWI led to the creation of blood transfusion techniques. Prior to WWI, blood transfusions were nearly impossible without cross-matching blood types. An article published by Medical History argues that, “Though the technique (blood transfusions) caused several deaths, it did save dozens of other men, proving its lifesaving

The market of human blood transfusions is broken down into different uses: Elective Surgery, Emergency Surgery and Trauma. However, Hemopure seems to be suitable only for trauma cases due to its characteristics and, again, high price. To understand the reason, it is important to notice that, actually, only 10% of the 500,000 trauma victims receives RBCs “in the field” or at the site of accident, and the remaining 95% of these people does not receive transfusions until they arrive at the hospital. This delay was often cited as a major factor to the 20,000 trauma deaths. Therefore, since the expected market share for Biopure is 25% and assuming that the total blood transfusions remain stable, the potential market size for Hemopure is approximately $350,000,000. This size is based on an average price of $700 multiplied by 2,000,000 units (around 4 blood units are needed for each Trauma case).

Each sample was tested before it was shipped. He took every possible measure to avoid poor handling and contamination of blood plasma. He closely monitored the shipments of these life-saving plasmas to treat war casualties. For five months, “Blood for Britain” project ran successfully with approximately 15000 people turning donors and approximately 5,000 vials of blood plasma collected.

Rebecca Jemmett and Pamela Peacock stated in an article called “Medical Contributions of The Great War: Blood Transfusion”, that the first known blood transfusion took place after British physician William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood in 1628. “From that time until World War One, blood transfusions were practiced on humans, dogs, and other animals.” With this achievement, it leads to more ways blood transfusions can be proved useful like animal to animal and animal to person blood transfusions. Blood transfusions have now become more common as a result of the horrors of the First World War. New discoveries and the magnified demand for the practice propelled the procedure forward as time

Plasma is used to keep a healthy blood pressure, supplying proteins for blood clotting and immunity, and serves as the medium for the exchange of vital minerals. It is attained by separating the liquid part of the blood from the cells. Dr. Charles Drew set up a blood plasma system in 1938; he set up a blood bank at Columbia Medical Center by 1939. Drew then discovered that plasma could replace whole blood; this discovery played a huge role during the war in places with severe atrocities. Blood was in high demand in 1940 as war raged across Europe. The International Transfusion Association chose Dr. Drew to organize the Blood for Britain project. This project collected, processed, and transported 14,500 units of plasma within five months. The research of Dr. Drew transformed plasma transfusion so plasma could be given on the battlefield immediately. Dr. Drew was appointed Director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank in February 1941. This plasma collection and preservation program is a model for today’s blood donation organizations. When the program ended in September 1945, the American Red Cross had gathered over 13 million units of blood and transformed most of it into plasma. By the end of the war, 1.3 million plasma units were returned to the American Red Cross, which were given to civilian hospitals (World War

After graduating college in 1926, Charles Drew was later on enrolled to a medical school-McGill University- in Montreal, Canada, 1928. After studying in several colleges in Canada, Charles Drew returned to the United States and, in 1938, he went to Columbia University where Charles Drew continued exploring blood-related matters. It was there where Charles Drew discovered to process and preserve blood without its cells or plasma in it. Because of this new thesis and method he created, Charles Drew received his doctorate degree in 1940, and a degree in Doctor of Medical Science. During the late 1940’s, Charles Drew was recruited by a medical doctor, John Shudder, to set up a program where donors could donate their blood, and it will be preserved

To explain the ABO and Rh blood groups and to identify the universal donor and the universal acceptor (recipient).

In the future the world will have on his hands a machine that replaces the blood in the body all at once like the

A 13 year old is studying blood in school, and has asked some questions that haven't been answered in class. I will answer

seem to be the harder part. Medical and science of the modern world have come a long way from blood

In 1667, Jean-Baptiste Denis from France reported transfusing blood from lambs into human, which was later declared illegal. An American physician, from Philadelphia, performed the first human to human blood transfusion but did not report it when he did so in 1795. James Blundell, a british obstetrician, successfully performed a transfusion for a patient with postpartum hemorrhage in 1818 and later performed 10 more and half were successful. In 1840, Samuel Armstrong Lane helped with the first transfusion to treat hemophilia and in 1867, and English surgeon named Joseph Lister used antiseptics to reduce the risk of infections during transfusions. In 1900 an Austrian physician discovered the first 3 human blood groups, A, B, and C that was later renamed O. Hepatitis B was found in blood n 1971 so testing on donor blood began and in 1985, the first blood screening test for HIV was licensed and used in blood banks around the world to protect the supply of blood.

In 1998, Biopure Corporation is one of the three legitimate contenders in the emerging field of “blood substitutes”. Biopure has invested $200M on the R&D on blood substitutes in the past with its primary goal being the development of a human blood substitute ( Hemopure) but Its entry into animal market (Oxyglobin) had been some

The other type of artificial blood is more of a blood substitute as it is derived from either outdated bovine or human red blood cells. It is known as Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOC), Hemoglobin which is the oxygen carrying protein molecule found in red blood cells is extracted from the obsolete red blood cells through ultrafiltration and purification. The Hemoglobin must undergo specific processes in an attempt to prevent the Hemoglobin from disassociating from its natural four-chain configuration (Fridey 3). There is numerous methods of chemically altering the Hemoglobin to increase the molecules size so it does not dissociate and break down. The two main processes of enlarging the

Hemopure’s market consists of people who lose blood in large quantities like in accidents, gunshots. And and aging population (double of what it is today by 2030) in need of Red Blood Cells to treat certain conditions like chronic anemia and acute blood loss. Launching Oxyglobin at a low price would not necessarily create an unrealistic price expectation for Hemopure because human health care is far more expensive than animal care. Additionally, the emerging and growing necessity for blood substitutes will yield great demand in the following years which will translate to higher selling prices for Biopure, all things equal.

The main competitors in the market of RBC’s and blood substitutes are Baxter, Northfield, and the current volunteer blood donations market that exists for RBCs. Further competitive rivals are not expected due to the extensive FDA approval process, lengthy R&D testing requirements, and patent regulations