Say Nay to Northfield

Longtime readers might remember that I have a bit of an obsession with blood substitutes.

Remember, I'm the guy who spent three years -- and almost 80 stories -- detailing the myriad ways Biopure(BPUR Quote) was misleading investors about its product Hemopure. I'm pretty proud of that work -- Biopure is now a penny stock, the Securities and Exchange Commission took successful action against the company, and the executives responsible for the wrongdoing were kicked out.

So, it's no surprise that I follow developments at Northfield Laboratories(NFLD Quote) with great interest. Last month, the company's stock cratered after results from a pivotal phase III study revealed that trauma patients given its blood substitute Polyheme had a higher death rate than patients given a combination of saline and donated blood. ...