Northfield labs shuts down

Following the FDA rejection of its blood substitute PolyHeme, Northfield Labs said late Friday that it is laying off all its staff and shutting down. "Northfield Laboratories announced today that it has terminated the employment of substantially all of its operational and staff employees at its manufacturing facility in Mount Prospect, Illinois and headquarters in Evanston, Illinois," the company said in a statement.

The company spent 20 years developing the blood substitute, including two years of frustrated attempts to gain approval of the drug. But last week the FDA said that the risks associated with PolyHeme outweigh its benefits, due to the fact that a greater number of patients given PolyHeme died after 30 days than those giving regular blood.

- here's the company's release
- read the article for more

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