UK to conduct first "synthetic blood" transfusion in 2 years

Lab produced "synthetic blood", an alternative to donated blood, will be ready for in-man clinical trials by 2017, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) Blood and Transplant announced on Thursday.

By using stem cells from adult and umbilical cord blood, a team of NHS Blood and Transplant and several leading UK universities are able to produce red blood cells, which offers an alternative to donated blood to treat patients, according to a press release from the NHS Blood and Transplant.

A key aim of the project is to create better-matched blood for patients with complex blood-types for whom it is difficult to find compatible donors, researchers said.

Many of these patients will have blood conditions such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassemia which require treatment with regular transfusions.

Deemed as a world first, the trial will only use a few teaspoons of synthetic blood to test for any adverse reactions, so that researchers can study how well the manufactured red blood cells can survive within human recipients.

"Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years how to manufacture red blood cells to offer an alternative to donated blood to treat patients. We are confident that by 2017 our team will be ready to carry out the first early phase clinical trials in human volunteers," said Dr Nick Watkins, NHS Blood and Transplant Assistant Director of Research and Development. Endit