A Year and Counting, and Hemopure's Safety Still Unknown

Updated from 7:28 a.m.

Why is it taking Biopure(BPUR Quote) so long to tell investors if its human blood substitute is safe enough to pass muster with U.S. drug regulators?

Biopure's oxygen-carrying red blood cell substitute, dubbed Hemopure, was touted on the CBS Evening News in late July, and last week was the beneficiary of a $7 million research appropriation request from a South Carolina congressman (whose district would host a proposed $85 million Biopure plant).

All the buzz is misleading. TheStreet.com has uncovered mounting evidence that Hemopure is unsafe and that Biopure officials appear to be scrambling for ways to portray the drug in a more positive light. Rejection of Hemopure by federal drug regulators would seriously imperil Biopure's finances, because the blood substitute is virtually its sole product. ...