(NASDAQ: OXBT)
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Synthetic Blood International, Inc. (now Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc.) Profile
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Synthetic Blood International, Inc. ("Synthetic Blood" or "the Company") is a biomedical product development company specializing in creating innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices in the fields of oxygen therapeutics and continuous biosensor monitors. The Company is developing a blood substitute and a liquid ventilation product as well as an implantable glucose monitor. These products are based on core technologies that include biomedical applications for perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and medical and industrial applications for biosensors. PFCs are inert, organic compounds that have attracted interest in medicine primarily as vehicles for respiratory gas transport and as contrast media in tissue imaging studies. PFC emulsions have been used for tissue oxygenation and thus have been referred to frequently as "blood substitutes" and "therapeutic oxygen carriers." Synthetic Blood's lead candidate, Oxycyte, is being developed as an alternative to transfused blood for use in surgical and similar medical situations. Oxycyte is an oxygen-carrying intravenous emulsion that can carry three to four times more oxygen than hemoglobin (a red respiratory protein of red blood cells that transports oxygen as oxyhemoglobin from the lungs to the tissues). A substitute for blood is vitally important when there is no blood available, there is a limited blood supply, or there is insufficient time or resources to determine the blood type, or to test the blood to determine that it is free of infectious agents. Therapeutic oxygen carriers have shown promise in the treatment of such ischemic conditions as heart disease, cancer, stroke, traumatic brain injury, sickle cell anemia, decompression sickness ("the bends"), and carbon monoxide poisoning. Earlier stage candidates in the pipeline include Fluorovent, a liquid ventilator providing oxygen exchange fluid for facilitating the treatment of lung conditions in adults and children, and a biosensor implant product that uses an enzyme process for measuring the glucose level in the bloodstream of diabetics.
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