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                            SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
                   PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(a)
                     OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934


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                          NORTHFIELD LABORATORIES INC.

                (Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

                                C. ROBERT COATES
                                ----------------

     (Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement if other than the Registrant)


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     3)     Filing Party: C. Robert Coates
     4)     Date Filed: August 19, 2002


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Press Release

SOURCE: C. Robert Coates

'COMPASIONATE USE' OF POLYHEME SAVES LIVES, SAY COATES AND WILLIAMS

LAKE  FOREST,  Ill.,  Aug.  19 - Even though  PolyHeme,  Northfield Laboratories
Inc.'s (Nasdaq: NFLD) oxygen-carrying blood substitute, has yet  to  clear  Food
and Drug Administration hurdles for commercial use,  Dr. Michael Rie  knows  the
product works and believes in its potential.

An  anesthesiologist who works at the State Trauma Center at the  University  of
Kentucky, Dr. Rie had first-hand experience with PolyHeme.

The case goes back to 1998, and PolyHeme was in clinical trials at the time. "We
got  a  'compassionate use' authorization from the company to treat a  Jehovah's
Witness who had refused blood transfusions," Dr. Rie said.

  "Our patient wasn't a trauma victim, but a young woman in her 30s with a colon
problem.  Before her operation she suffered from chronic kidney  impairment  but
did  not require dialysis. She bled after surgery and became anemic to the point
where she was quite likely to die. Going into kidney failure, she had to be  put
on  dialysis,"  Rie continued. The patient received PolyHeme, survived  and  was
able to become independent of dialysis.

The  experience, Dr. Rie said, convinced him that PolyHeme was a  product  "that
could  deliver." The doctor draws this analogy: "PolyHeme is to  the  year  2002
what the medical evacuation helicopter was to Vietnam. That is, it gives you  an
extra moment up-front to bring in the severely injured to give them a chance  at
surgery."

Besides  having  no  known serious or unexpected adverse side effects,  PolyHeme
offers four key advantages:

      - It requires no special storage

      - It has an extended shelf life (i.e.,  about 12 months under refrigerated
        conditions, compared to 28 to 42 days permitted for blood)

      - It is universally compatible and requires no cross-matching

      - It exits the body quickly

"The problem is the FDA does not know how to evaluate a product like this," said
Dr.  Rie.  "One of the issues involves making an exception to the rules  calling
for  randomized  double-blind placebo controlled trials. In other  words,  in  a
cancer  test, one patient gets a cancer-fighting drug and the other salt  water.
But  you  can't  do  that in this type of research. If the  government  were  to
torpedo  the  product because there was no randomized study,  we  would  have  a
situation where the FDA had proposed ethically inappropriate research."

Dr.  Rie contended, "If the product is safe and has efficacy and no serious side
effects that we know of, why would the FDA not want to pass the product?"

In  light of homeland security issues, Dr. Rie said he sees a place for PolyHeme
as  part  of  the military arsenal. It also belongs in ambulances and  emergency
rooms.

The  military  has  a  stockpile of frozen blood. But Dr.  Rie  said  there  are
problems  with  frozen blood: mainly, about 20 percent of the red  cells  become
broken  during  the  thawing process. Adding to the  pressure  is  the  nation's
shrinking  blood  supply. As concerns escalate over mad cow  disease  and  other
contamination, new restrictions have come into play about who can donate  blood.
Such  rules  are  expected  to diminish by five to  nine  percent  the  pool  of
potential donors.

"Northfield,  with its blood substitute PolyHeme, is still the  frontrunner.  It
should set the standards for how these products are tested by the FDA," Dr.  Rie
concluded.

Raising  the profile of PolyHeme is part of the action plan of C. Robert  Coates
and  Bert  Williams III, candidates for Northfield's board. They would  like  to
hear  from  shareholders about other cases in which PolyHeme was  used  to  save
lives.

In addition, the candidates vow to:

      - Find a major pharmaceutical partner for Northfield to provide  cash  and
        experienced management to get PolyHeme approved by the FDA;

      - Ask Northfield to partner with companies to extend possible applications
        of PolyHeme as a transport delivery mechanism for other drugs;

      - Work with the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security Agency  to
        explore the possibility of stockpiling PolyHeme  as  a  safe,  effective
        blood substitute for emergencies;

      - Gain representation on Northfield's board as independent directors;  and

      - Keep investors informed of Northfield news.

PolyHeme as a Possible Solution for Jehovah's Witnesses

PolyHeme,   Northfield  Laboratories'  hemoglobin-based  oxygen-carrying   blood
substitute,  holds  promise for Jehovah's Witnesses  who  do  not  accept  blood
transfusions based on religious convictions.

The denomination, which has about 6.1 million followers worldwide and nearly one
million  members  in the United States alone, bans whole blood transfusions  for
its members, citing biblical passages, but allows non-blood replacement fluids.

"We  wouldn't give an endorsement on a specific product (such as PolyHeme),  but
we're  watching  developments carefully," said Mark  Sanderson  in  a  telephone
interview  from  the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, at its  Brooklyn,  N.Y.
headquarters, where he is with hospital information services. Sanderson said his
group tries to keep abreast of relevant developments.

He  said  that  the  Watchtower Society, the governing  body  of  the  Jehovah's
Witnesses,  has  ruled  that  the  use  of substances  that  contain  a  product
fractionated from red cells, white cells, platelets or plasma was permissible.

"Using  blood  substitutes  remains a matter of  conscience,"  Sanderson  added.
Although some patients have embraced this type of product, many will take a more
guarded view based on risk, benefit and religious considerations.

Sanderson  said  it  was difficult to estimate the number  of  people  who  died
because  of  refusing  a  whole  blood transfusion  and  because  an  acceptable
substitute  was  unavailable. He also noted, "Our patients have been  undergoing
major  surgeries  from  liver transplants to open-heart  surgery  without  blood
transfusions for many years before these products were ever conceived."

PolyHeme  does  not contain any of the banned substances. In  fact,  the  human-
derived hemoglobin oxygen-carrying component is even purified before being added
to the blood substitute solution.

Contact Information

If you are a shareholder with comments, suggestions or questions about receiving
a  Coates-Williams proxy, please call Simon Goldberg of the Robert Coates  Group
at 1-800-295-0841, extension 240 or e-mail us at sgoldberg@rcoates.com.

SOURCE: C. Robert Coates