Biopure Sues National Institutes of Health Official
Complaint Alleges Defamation, Trade Libel and Intentional Interference with Prospective Business Advantage
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Biopure Corporation
(Nasdaq: BPUR) announced today that it had filed an action for injunctive
relief and damages against Charles Natanson, M.D., who co-authored an article
and several letters about Hemopure, hemoglobin glutamer-250 (bovine),
Biopure's oxygen therapeutic product for human use. The action was filed on
October 10, 2008, in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia. Natanson
is senior investigator and head of the anesthesia section of the Critical Care
Medicine Department, Clinical Center, of the National Institutes of Health.
The complaint alleges that in publishing the article "Cell-Free
Hemoglobin-Based Blood Substitutes and Risk of Myocardial Infarction and
Death" (published by the Journal of the American Medical Association online on
April 28, 2008) and writing a number of letters to regulatory authorities in
jurisdictions where Biopure is active, Natanson engaged in tortious activity
that injured Biopure. Biopure seeks injunctive relief and damages for
defamation, trade libel/injurious falsehood and intentional interference with
prospective business advantage.
Natanson has not yet filed an answer or any other response.
Biopure Corporation
Biopure Corporation develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals,
called oxygen therapeutics that are intravenously administered to deliver
oxygen to the body's tissues. Hemopure(R) [hemoglobin glutamer -- 250
(bovine)], or HBOC-201, is approved for sale in South Africa for the treatment
of surgical patients who are acutely anemic. The Company is developing
Hemopure for other indications and is supporting the U.S. Navy's
government-funded efforts to develop a potential out-of-hospital trauma
indication. Biopure's veterinary product Oxyglobin(R) [hemoglobin glutamer --
200 (bovine)], or HBOC-301, the only oxygen therapeutic approved for marketing
by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Commission, is
indicated for the treatment of anemia in dogs. Biopure has sold approximately
200,000 units of Oxyglobin since its launch.
Statements in this release that are not strictly historical are forward-
looking statements, including any statements implying that any legal action
will be successful. Actual results and their timing may differ materially from
those projected in these forward-looking statements due to risks and
uncertainties. These risks include, without limitation, uncertainties
regarding the company's financial position, including its limited cash
resources and need to raise additional capital to pursue its business,
unexpected costs and expenses, delays and adverse determinations by regulatory
authorities, unanticipated problems with the product's commercial use, whether
or not product related, and with product distributors, sales agents or other
third parties, delays in clinical trials, and the other factors identified
under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-
Q filed on September 15, 2008, which can be accessed in the EDGAR database at
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) website,
http://www.sec.gov. The company undertakes no obligation to release publicly
the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances arising after the date hereof. A full discussion of
the company's operations and financial condition can be found in the company's
filings with the SEC.
