Companies Restructure Agreement on Oxygen Carrier

A new agreement has been announced whereby Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. (San Diego, CA, USA) will acquire an option to purchase the ownership interest of Baxter Healthcare Corp. (Deerfield, IL, USA) in PCF Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture established by Alliance and Baxter in May 2000 to commercialize Oxygent, an intravascular oxygen carrier.

Under the agreement, Alliance is to pay Baxter a royalty on the sales of Oxygent following regulatory approval. In addition, Alliance will have six months to exercise its option to purchase Baxter's ownership interest in PFC. Baxter will retain a right of first offer to market Oxygent in the United States.

Oxygent (perflubron emulsion) is designed to be used in elective surgery and other situations in order to avoid the need for a transfusion of donor blood. Alliance has obtained regulatory and clinical site approvals in selected European countries to begin the phase III protocol, designed by using data from a successful multinational phase III study with general surgery patients, reported in the December 2002 issue of Anesthesiology. Alliance has also been using its perfluorochemical and surfactant technologies to develop other therapeutic and diagnostic products.

"The development of a safe and effective blood substitute continues to be an important medical need as availability of donor blood decreases while surgical and emergency blood usage escalate,” said Duane J. Roth, chairman and CEO of Alliance. "Oxygent has the beneficial attributes of being a sterile emulsion that does not contain human or animal blood components.”





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