Biopure hires top cardiologist in bid to develop blood product
Biopure Corp. of Cambridge said it hired prominent cardiologist Martin B. Leon as its consulting chief medical director, a move aimed to bring needed medical credibility to efforts to develop its blood substitute as a treatment for heart attack victims.
The move underscores Biopure's strategic shift after a host of setbacks forced it to virtually abandon its efforts to develop Hemopure, the experimental treatment, as a substitute for blood transfusions and red blood cells for patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery.
Leon is associate director of the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy and a professor of medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also founder and chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, a New York nonprofit devoted to interventional cardiology.
Leon, in a statement, said that of 1 million Americans who have acute heart attacks each year, about half die. ''The investigation of potential therapies that might help us better these patients is a priority in cardiovascular research," he said.
Biopure makes its blood substitute from hemoglobin derived from cow's blood. The company had first sought approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use it in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. But the FDA raised numerous questions about that use, years after the company completed supposedly pivotal trials. The agency also put the brakes on a planned trial to administer Hemopure to trauma patients.
Biopure revealed the switch to focus on heart attack patients this summer. Biopure's new chief executive, Zafiris G. Zafirelis, said he had wanted the firm to explore that area for several years before he joined the company in June. Because the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in Hemopure is held in solution instead of within red blood cells, in theory it can deliver oxygen to tissues that are not receiving normal blood flow.
The firm has a clinical trial underway in Europe looking at whether Hemopure can help patients undergoing angioplasty or stenting procedures to clear coronary arteries.
Biopure said Leon will be a ''senior consultant" and will continue as head of a medical advisory board the company set up in June to guide development of Hemopure for cardiac indications. A Biopure spokesman declined to disclose Leon's compensation, but characterized it as ''very modest." Leon did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Biopure has been perennially short of cash for several years. It raised $7 million through a private placement of its shares in September.
It is seeking shareholder permission at a special meeting Nov. 29 to greatly increase the number of shares it can issue. If approved, the company would have greater flexibility to raise additional funds, but the value of existing shares could be diluted.
Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.
