After learning the news about artificial blood, the Jiangsu Provincial Blood Center took it very seriously.
Deputy Director Huang, who was in charge of the blood laboratory, rushed over immediately.
He walked into Liu Zhengming's office in a hurry and asked impatiently: "Where are the artificial blood specimens?"
Liu Zhengming pointed to the refrigerated transport box on the table and said: "Inside, I have done a blood type test. A, B, and H antigens are negative, and Rh antigen is positive. The initial consideration is Bombay blood type."
He spread his hands and said, "But you came too quickly, and further testing has not been done yet."
Director Huang stepped forward quickly, opened the box and looked at it, and said with great joy: "That's great. After I take it back, I will do a blood type genetic test directly and I will be able to confirm the final result."
After saying that, he turned around and found Jia Qing sitting aside, and immediately smiled and stretched out his hand.
"You are from Sanqing, right? The artificial blood developed by Sanqing has been a big help to blood banks across the country and has positive strategic significance."
Jia Qing said a little cautiously: "This is what we should do. I hope this clinical trial can go smoothly."
Director Huang waved his hand and said: "This clinical trial will be carried out by the cooperation of the three of us."
"When our blood center discovers rare blood types in daily blood donations, we will establish corresponding blood type files. Currently, 6 cases of Bombay blood type have been found in this province, and files have been established for all cases."
"I will notify them one by one when I get back and ask them if they are willing to volunteer. Generally speaking, these people with rare blood types are very united, friendly, and willing to help others. I believe they will agree."
"In addition, dozens of volunteers with four major blood types must be recruited to participate in clinical trials."
"If the clinical trial is successful, it will greatly solve the problem of blood shortage in our country, fill the vacancies in blood banks, and reduce the risk of blood transfusion-related infections."
"By the way," he suddenly asked: "How far has the project progressed? Can it only be produced in the laboratory? Or can it be mass-produced?"
Jia Qing shook his head: "We are overcoming the difficulties of mass production. At present, we can only produce it in the laboratory, which takes a long time. I am afraid that we cannot supply it in large quantities. But if the amount of blood transfusion required for no more than ten people can be met, then It’s no problem.”
Director Huang's eyes suddenly lit up: "That's also very good. At least some rare blood types can be cultivated in the laboratory, which can save lives at critical times."
Speaking of this, he said with emotion: "You don't know how scarce rare blood types are in blood banks across the country. In order to obtain blood donations in time, we have established files. When needed, we will contact them one by one and then recruit blood donors. Temporary blood collection.”
"A bag of blood takes nearly 16 hours from recruiting blood donors, collecting blood, preparing separated blood, testing the blood, storing it, and transfusing it into the patient!"
"Sixteen hours!" Director Huang said sadly: "Such a long waiting time, if there is no external supply, will greatly delay the golden time of patient rescue."
Jia Qing couldn't help but ask: "Then why don't you always keep some blood and store it?"
Director Huang sighed: "You don't know this. Donated blood has a certain shelf life even if it is kept refrigerated, and the interval between blood donations cannot be less than 6 months, so it can generally only be used when there is an emergency need. Donations are being solicited again.”
"However, we also have a small amount of frozen blood in stock, but it takes a long time to thaw and cannot meet emergency needs."
"After the fresh blood is collected, in addition to ensuring daily supply, the blood station will add glycerin, and the frozen red blood cells will be stored below -65°C, which can generally be stored for 10 years. However, when used, the frozen red blood cells need to be washed to remove the glycerol. It takes too long to use and I really can’t catch up.”
"A few years ago, when mutual blood donation was not abolished, family members could find someone to donate blood to each other. However, the biggest disadvantage of this was that it easily led to paid blood donation. A blood dealer once raised the price of a bag of rare blood to 70,000 yuan. or so, so it was later cancelled, and we could only get blood donations from blood banks.”
Jia Qing scratched his head in confusion and said, "But our laboratory produces hematopoietic cells, and the production cycle is relatively long. I'm afraid we can't keep up with the urgent demand for rare blood types."
Director Huang pondered: "First solve the problem of availability, and then solve other problems. Our blood bank may consider stocking some rare blood types on a regular basis."
"But the cost should be very high. By the way, have you decided on the price of artificial blood?"
Jia Qing shook his head: "It's too early, not yet."
Director Huang laughed and said, "Indeed, I was too anxious."
He came in a hurry and left in a hurry. He quickly carried the box and disappeared into the flow of people downstairs.
A few days later, Director Huang came again excitedly with a team.
"It is confirmed that the Bombay blood is correct." He slapped the genetic test report on the table and said with a happy face: "The blood center has contacted the six registrants based on the files, and they are all willing to participate in this clinical trial."
"Three of them happened to be near Ning City, so I brought them with me, and the others will come to report one after another."
Liu Zhengming looked at the three people following Director Huang, nodded and said, "Yes, I also found 50 people with ordinary blood types here, and they all agreed to participate in the clinical trial."
Of course, this clinical trial was all conducted for a fee. Only with Sanqing's financial capabilities could we find suitable volunteers so quickly.
After a simple physical examination, the three volunteers participating in the trial came to a separate ward.
Under the watchful eyes of the group, the nurse used a syringe to draw out 5ml of artificial blood and slowly injected it into the volunteer.
The volunteers were sitting on the hospital bed with nervous expressions.
Liu Zhengming comforted him: "Don't worry, the amount of blood transfused is very small, so the possibility of a transfusion reaction is very small."
"The most common clinical blood transfusion reaction occurs 15-20 minutes after blood transfusion. As long as you wait 20 minutes and no side effects occur, the blood transfusion is successful."
The volunteers licked their lips and nodded subconsciously, feeling a little relieved.
Jia Qing stood aside, holding a notebook and recording carefully.
The 20 minutes passed quickly.
Liu Zhengming conducted a physical examination on each volunteer again and confirmed that they did not show any adverse reactions.
The group of people left the ward.
Since the onset of transfusion reactions can sometimes be delayed, nurses will pay close attention to these volunteers and provide first aid as soon as a transfusion reaction occurs.
In the next few days, all 56 volunteers, including 6 Bombay Blood staff, received about 5ml of blood transfusion.
None of the patients showed any adverse reactions, proving the safety of artificial blood to a certain extent.
This kind of artificial blood produced in the laboratory can indeed be regarded as a kind of universal blood, which can be delivered to ordinary people regardless of the four major ABO blood types.
Seeing such results, all the researchers were refreshed and felt relieved.
The subsequent research was relatively simple. Since the amount of blood transfusion was very small, in order to track the operation and changes of artificial blood in the volunteers, they used hydrogen isotopes to label the artificial blood.
In this way, the location, quantity, changes, and lifespan of artificial blood in the body can be tracked using nuclear detectors.
In the same element, if the number of protons is the same but the number of neutrons is different, they can be called isotopes.
Tritium is a common hydrogen isotope that is radioactive and can replace hydrogen atoms in chemical substances, so it is widely used in isotope tracking methods.
The life span of blood is mainly determined by red blood cells, which is about 120 days. After the time is up, the dead red blood cells can be catabolized by the spleen.
But the volunteers obviously couldn't wait so long, and they left the hospital a week later.
During these four months, they will come to the hospital once every two weeks for follow-up examinations.
At the same time, volunteers with ABO blood types are gradually participating in clinical trials in other Sanqing cooperative hospitals.
Because artificial blood is special, whole blood is not considered a drug in the strict sense. Only various blood products are considered drugs.
Moreover, this is an innovative breakthrough of great significance, so it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and can be fast-tracked to carry out combined phase I and phase II clinical trials.
There are approximately 500 volunteers in the entire Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.
If no reports of major adverse reactions are received during the clinical trial and everything goes well, the Phase III clinical trial will be started.
The number of participants in the Phase III trial will be greatly increased, reaching thousands, and the volume of blood transfused will also be increased, from 5ml to 50ml, and the use will be increased in patients with anemia or acute blood loss.
For special products such as blood products that are used in large quantities and in a wide range, pharmaceutical companies must be cautious when conducting clinical trials and consider all aspects of the situation to avoid any medical accidents.
In this way, the total clinical process will last for more than half a year, and it is not expected to be officially launched until next year.
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Kunming City, First People's Hospital.
Liu Zhengming looked at the clinical trial report in his hand and was overjoyed.
"Very good. The data is very detailed. It seems that my paper should be fine."
Suddenly, a nurse rushed in from the door and said in a panic.
"Director Liu, it's not good. There is a patient who just had a car accident and suffered massive kidney bleeding. He is in a state of severe anemia and needs a large amount of blood transfusion!"
Liu Zhengming said without raising his head: "What are you saying in a panic? Is there not enough blood in the blood bank?"
The nurse hurriedly said: "The patient is a volunteer who came to the hospital today to participate in a clinical trial reexamination. He has Bombay blood type, which we do not have in the blood bank."
Liu Zhengming stood up suddenly, widened his eyes and said, "What? Just re-examine again, how come there is no accident?"
The nurse wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and said, "Yes, it seems that I had a car accident on the highway just after driving out of the city, and I have been sent to the emergency room. For surgery, I will need a blood transfusion of 800-1200 ml."
"The patient has temporarily stopped bleeding, but if we can't find suitable blood, we can't perform subsequent surgical treatment for the patient."
"We contacted the blood station in the city center and found that there were only 200 milliliters of suitable blood in the city."
After hearing this, Liu Zhengming had an incredulous expression and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "This is too unlucky."
"He has a rare blood type, but he got into a car accident and needed a massive blood transfusion."
He quickly said: "Hurry up and contact Director Huang of the Provincial Blood Center to see if he has any stock. By the way, hurry up and contact the other five volunteers with Mumbai blood types to see if they are willing to come back as soon as possible to donate blood to save lives."
The nurse nodded and said: "After the car accident, some media followed the hospital. After they learned about the situation, they were very anxious and helped us spread the news to the entire platform to find a suitable donor. I hope they can find it as soon as possible."
After saying that, he left in a hurry.
Liu Zhengming was pacing back and forth in the office, and an idea suddenly came to his mind and became clearer and clearer.
Maybe, you can try Sanqing’s artificial blood?
After all, this patient had received a small amount of artificial blood before and had no discomfort.
Thinking of this, he grabbed the clinical experiment report on the table and went directly to the emergency and intensive care unit.
"How is the patient's condition?" he asked the emergency doctor next to him.
The other party had a heavy face, shook his head and said: "The patient's condition is not optimistic. After transfusion of 200ml of blood and 2000ml of lactated Ringer's solution, the bleeding has stopped, and the hemoglobin level has recovered to 63g/L, but is still in the middle. Severe anemia and, if bleeding continues, potentially life-threatening."
"At the same time, the patient will need subsequent surgery, which requires at least 800ml of blood transfusion."
Liu Zhengming asked: "Have you found blood donation volunteers?"
The emergency doctor smiled bitterly and said: "We contacted five volunteers who had participated in the clinical trial before, but two of them were unable to come due to personal reasons, and three of them agreed to come to the blood station to donate blood."
"But each of them can only donate 200ml of blood. Three people can donate about 600ml of blood. After the blood is processed, it will take some time to send it to the hospital."
“If subsequent patients require blood transfusions, more Mumbai blood group blood donors will be needed to lend a helping hand.”
Liu Zhengming asked carefully: "If the patient does not receive blood transfusion, will the patient's life be in danger?"
The emergency doctor nodded: "It's very possible."
Liu Zhengming gritted his teeth and said, "Actually, I have an idea. Do you know about the clinical trial of artificial blood in cooperation between the Department of Hematology and Sanqing?"
"I've heard that this patient seems to be one of the volunteers participating in the trial."
"He has been transfused with about 5ml of artificial blood without any adverse reactions. So, I think if we really can't find enough blood, in order to save the patient's life, maybe we can try Sanqing's artificial blood? Waiting for the follow-up Blood buys some time.”
The emergency doctor's face became solemn: "Please tell me in detail. I need to know more data on artificial blood clinical trials before I can make a decision."
"Take a look at this." Liu Zhengming handed over the report in his hand.
The emergency doctor looked at it carefully and said with a shocked look on his face: "Is this person really bleeding?"
Then he cheered up and said: "In this way, we can really try. We can transfuse 50ml of blood at a time, and then observe for a while, then continue the blood transfusion, and inject 200ml of artificial blood into the patient's body several times. This can greatly spread the risk. If there is The adverse reactions will stop immediately.”
"If it's 200ml, the small amount shouldn't be a big problem, but it can greatly maintain the patient's life."
"In this way, when the blood from the next three donors arrives, the operation can be performed immediately."
"But you still have to tell the patient's family and sign a consent form."
"Okay, that's it. You go find the family members, and I'll get the blood."
Liu Zhengming breathed a sigh of relief and took a 200ml bag of artificial blood from the blood laboratory.
Since the patient lived in the nearby Sioux City, the family members came quickly after learning the news. After some explanation, they immediately signed the consent form.
The emergency doctor took the bag of artificial blood and felt it was heavy in his hand, just like his mood at the moment.
He actually didn't have much confidence in his heart. Although this artificial blood product sounded very powerful and the data looked very reliable, no one could guarantee that there would be no problems unless it was injected into the patient's body.
"Fortunately, if you inject 50ml at a time, there should be no major problems. If there is any adverse reaction, you can be rescued immediately."
He comforted himself silently in his heart, but without stopping, he transfused 50ml of artificial blood into the patient's body.
Liu Zhengming waited quietly on the side, and everyone present was very nervous.
Half an hour later, the patient had no adverse reactions.
Liu Zhengming suddenly smiled: "It looks like there's something going on."
The emergency doctor nodded, and most of the tension in his heart dissipated, and he transfused 50ml of artificial blood.
In this way, until 200ml of artificial blood was transfused into the patient, the patient still did not experience any adverse reactions.
"It's done!" Liu Zhengming raised his fist and said excitedly.
Just now, he witnessed the world's first clinical use of artificial blood.
(End of chapter)
