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Non-Tech : Bill Wexler's Dog Pound -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Roof who wrote (2896)	8/10/1999 2:54:00 PM
From: Marconi	Respond to of 10293

Hello Mr. Roof: BTIM and somewhat OT Clarifications. You wrote: True, the company did use a poor choice of words back in their prospectus (which was published before talk of true blood substitutes had even really begun) but I know of no individual save the shorts who take issue with this. I did not read the prospectus. If Biotime referred to Hextend as a blood substitute in their prospectus, that is blatantly false. No professional in that area of business would make that 'mistake'. What time frame are you referring to with blood substitutes? Their history home page at biotimeinc.com states they were incorporated in 1990. In the '60's I was personally working on using perfluorocarbons to transport oxygen to the lungs of a guinea pig and remove the carbon dioxide buildup with a dialysis membrane shunted into the renal vein using bicarbonate to absorb the liquid-blood CO2 exchange. I was also considering possibly using an enzyme called something like carboxylase or carbonylase to enhance the release of CO2 for reaction with the bicarbonate. The idea was that if the perfluorocarbon solution could be breathed as a liquid by a diver, then a venous tap could be used to remove an adequate rate of carbon dioxide from the bloodstream. With no diluent gases such as helium necessary, the 2500 depth limit could be breached possibly to the pressure induced disruption (partial denaturization) of proteins depth for humans. Further, oxygen can be electrolyzed in situ from seawater, so compressed oxygen need not be used and instead a solid-fluid battery could be used without a vapor phase in the system. I found my surgical skills were inadequate so I dropped the exploratory project. The concept retains its merit to my knowledge. Perfluorocarbon technology for transporting oxygen has been around for more than 30 years. Emulsified perfluorocarbons have been tried as a blood substitute in animals since the 70's to my recollection, with some clinical attempts in the 80's with inexplicably bad outcomes. BTIM was incorporated long after blood substitutes of recent vintages have been tried (unsuccessfully). I wonder how you can make the claim to 'know' that Ascensio & Co. raised the 'blood substitute' issue for the express purpose of hanging 'his spurious claims of fraud'. I have not read Ascensio & Co. I would comment if that if the prospectus actually used the wording 'blood substitute' for a starch solution volume extender, then that would reflect at the least gross incompetence or worse, such as malfeasance. No professional would make such a mistake. The only possible merit for Biotime might be proving a small market niche for starch solution volume extenders. I would think a Baxter or other house in the IV fluid business would find it convenient to reformulate an equivalent and distribute through their existing channels. Neither would in my estimation provide anywhere near 1/10th the present market cap, so as the 'commercialization' progresses, I expect the stock to rationalize over time to low single digits. Best regards, m