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A need is strongly recognized for a safe red cell substitute that can carry oxygen to the hypoxic tissues of an anemic body. Banked blood is in short supply because of mounting fears of donors and limited storage life. A safe, stable, oxygen carrier would eliminate many problems such as cross-matching of blood types, danger of virus infections, short shelf life, and availability. Not only could this be used as an oxygen-carrying plasma expander for trauma victims and patients in surgery, such as cardiac bypass and angioplasty, this product could also be used as a perfusate for the preservation of isolated organs for transplantation. Cold storage is the popular choice for preservation at present, but there is an increasing demand for a safe organ perfusate that would promote the use of perfusion preservation to obtain a longer period of preservation.

There are many clinical disorders which, in theory might be treated by the use of appropriate enzymes. However, there are serious problems associated with enzyme therapy. First, inadequate amounts of human enzymes are available; and most foreign enzymes are immunogenic in humans. They can be administered only a few times. Second, the circulating life in the blood may be very short even on the first injection (often a matter of a few minutes). And third, the cost of highly purified enzymes may be too great to allow general use.