SCHEDULE 14A
PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(a) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 (AMENDMENT NO. )
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NORTHFIELD LABORATORIES INC.
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(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
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AT NORTHFIELD LABORATORIES: AT FRB | WEBER SHANDWICK:
Steven A. Gould, M.D. Lisa Fortuna Cindy Martin
Chief Executive Officer Investors Media
(847) 864-3500 (312) 640-6779 (312) 640-6741
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2002
NORTHFIELD BUILDS SUPPORT FOR POLYHEME
IN MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, AUGUST 29, 2002 - NORTHFIELD LABORATORIES INC. (NASDAQ/NMS:
NFLD), a leading developer of an oxygen-carrying blood substitute for trauma and
elective surgery situations, today mailed a letter to its shareholders in which
Steven A Gould, M.D., Northfield's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
outlined the important steps Northfield is taking to build strong support for
its PolyHeme (TM) blood substitute product in the medical and scientific
communities. The following is the text of Dr. Gould's letter:
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
NORTHFIELD'S ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS IS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY AND YOUR VOTE
IS VERY IMPORTANT. I urge you to act today to protect the value of your
investment by signing, dating and returning the BLUE proxy card today.
As you may know, a dissident shareholder, C. Robert Coates, has begun issuing
almost daily press releases as part of his campaign to seat himself and an
associate on the Northfield Board of Directors. In these press releases, Mr.
Coates has attempted to showcase his "program" to "raise the public profile" of
Northfield's PolyHeme(TM) blood substitute product.
MR. COATES' RECENT PROMOTIONAL RELEASES, HOWEVER, HAVE INCLUDED UNWISE
STATEMENTS IMPLICITLY CRITICIZING THE FDA AND SUGGESTING THAT THE AGENCY MIGHT
BE PROPOSING "ETHICALLY INAPPROPRIATE RESEARCH" IN CONNECTION WITH BLOOD
SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS. As a result of these statements, it was necessary for
Northfield to provide a letter to the FDA confirming that Mr. Coates is not
authorized to speak on behalf of Northfield and that we do not share the views
expressed in his press releases. THIS UNFORTUNATE EPISODE WAS EXTREMELY
EMBARRASSING FOR NORTHFIELD AND IS NOT HELPFUL AT THIS CRITICAL STAGE OF OUR
DISCUSSIONS WITH THE FDA.
IN CONTRAST TO MR. COATES' UNPROFESSIONAL AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE PROMOTIONAL
SCHEMES, NORTHFIELD IS CONTINUING ITS AGGRESSIVE EFFORTS TO BUILD STRONG SUPPORT
FOR POLYHEME IN THE MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES. For example, the August
10, 2002 issue of The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, included
a scientific report on the successful use of PolyHeme in the treatment of a
patient with severe sickle cell anemia by doctors from Montefiore Medical Center
and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The patient was a 40
year-old woman for whom compatible blood could not be found to treat a sickle
cell crisis occurring after surgery. The
report documents the important role that PolyHeme might play in managing
complications in patients with sickle cell anemia.
Upcoming issues of The Journal of the American College of Surgeons and
Transfusion will also feature reports describing the use of PolyHeme in the
treatment of trauma and life-threatening anemias. In addition, during September
we will be making important presentations on the status of PolyHeme to the
United States military at the Advanced Technology Applications for Combat
Casualty Care and to trauma specialists at a meeting of the American Association
for the Surgery of Trauma.
We believe these types of publications and presentations represent the most
effective way to present our ongoing clinical results to the medical and
scientific communities, since the acceptance of this work following scientific
peer-review represents validation of our results. MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE BELIEVE
THAT ACHIEVING ACCEPTANCE OF OUR RESULTS BY THE MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC
COMMUNITIES WILL BE A CRITICAL STEP IN ULTIMATELY OBTAINING FDA APPROVAL FOR
POLYHEME.
I URGE YOU TO SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS TO BUILD RECOGNITION FOR POLYHEME IN A
RESPONSIBLE, PRODUCTIVE MANNER. PLEASE ACT TODAY BY SIGNING, DATING AND
RETURNING THE BLUE PROXY CARD TODAY.
If you have any questions or comments voting your shares or the issues facing
our company, please call Innisfree M&A Incorporated, who is assisting us,
toll-free at 1-888-750-5834.
Thank you for your continued support.
Steven A. Gould, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
REMEMBER--ONLY YOUR LATEST DATED PROXY COUNTS!
If you have already voted a White proxy card in error, you have
every legal right to change your vote by signing and returning a
later-dated BLUE proxy card today.
To ensure that your vote is counted for Northfield's director nominees, do
NOT sign any White proxy card sent to you by
C. Robert Coates, even to withhold your support for the Coates nominees.
Simply discard the White card.
If you have any questions or need assistance in voting your shares,
please call:
INNISFREE M&A INCORPORATED
501 Madison Avenue, 20th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Call Toll-Free: (888) 750-5834
Banks and Brokers call collect (212) 750-5833
Statements in this release that are not strictly historical are
"forward-looking" statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the
company's actual results in the future to differ materially from expected
results. These risks include, among others: competition from other blood
substitute products; the company's ability to obtain regulatory approval to
market PolyHeme commercially; the company's and/or its representative's ability
to successfully market and sell PolyHeme; the company's ability to manufacture
PolyHeme in sufficient quantities; the company's ability to obtain an adequate
supply of raw materials; the company's ability to maintain intellectual property
protection for its proprietary product and to defend its existing intellectual
property rights from challenges by third parties; the availability of capital to
finance planned growth; and the extent to which the hospitals and physicians
using PolyHeme are able to obtain third-party reimbursement, as described in the
company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
VISIT THE NORTHFIELD WEBSITE AT: www.northfieldlabs.com