An Ohio firm specializing in perfluorocarbon technologies, Synthetic Blood International (SYBD; Kettering, OH), is developing a blood substitute based on that technology. Because blood gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide are highly soluble in perfluorocarbons, SYBD's Oxycyte is intended to provide an effective means of transporting oxygen to tissues and carbon dioxide to the lungs. Compared with hemoglobin, Oxycyte has been found to be capable of carrying at least five times more oxygen. Additionally, perfluorocarbons are considered to be more effective than hemoglobin for delivering oxygen at the tissue level. According to the company, the perfluorocarbon microdroplets that carry the oxygen are 1/70th the size of the red cells. They can therefore reach many areas of the body that human red blood cells cannot.

The product is inert and can be fully sterilized. It can be stored at room temperature and does not require typing and cross-matching prior to use. The firm considers Oxycyte to be an all-purpose synthetic blood product, with potential uses including surgery, trauma, angioplasty, open heart surgery, and oxygenation of tumors during radiation or chemotherapy. The product can also be made available on the battlefield, at the scene of accidents, and stored in emergency vehicles and emergency departments.

SYBD notes that its consultant director of research, Leland C. Clark Jr., PhD, pioneered the application of biocompatible, oxygen-carrying fluorocarbons, and the incorporation of these into synthetic blood emulsions for intravenous use more than 20 years ago. Clark's research formed the basis for commercialization of a synthetic blood emulsion in Japan, and of a perfluorocarbon emulsion, Fluosol, in the United States for use with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedures.