Blood substitute trial to resume in Utah

The blood-substitute clinical trial will go forward along the Wasatch Front.

University Hospital decided Thursday that it was satisfied with information received from Northfield Laboratories Inc., manufacturers of a hemoglobin-based blood substitute called PolyHeme, said Christopher Nelson, spokesman for the hospital.

And LDS Hospital, its partner in the joint study, along with various emergency responder units throughout the area, had already given its OK to lift an administrative hold, should the U. decide to rejoin the study, said LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez.

The study is to determine whether PolyHeme administration at the site of traumatic injuries increases survival and improves outcomes for people who have lost a lot of blood. In the study, patients who meet specific qualifications are randomized to receive either the blood substitute immediately and for up to 12 hours after arriving at the hospital, or the standard treatment, which is saline until blood can be given at the hospital.

Both hospitals — the state's only two Trauma One centers — had joined the study and then put it on administrative hold at different times until questions about the trial could be resolved to their satisfaction.