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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

A Clinical Trial Assessing the Safety, Efficacy, and Delivery of Olive-Oil-Based Three-Chamber Bags for Parenteral Nutrition
Published on: September 20, 2019
Clinical trial of tin mesoporphyrin to prevent neonatal hyperbilirubinemia
V K Bhutani1, R Poland2, L D Meloy3
1Division of Neonatal-Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Objective:
To assess the efficacy of the heme oxygenase inhibitor, tin mesoporphyrin (SnMP), to reduce total bilirubin (TB) levels.
Study Design:
Masked, SnMP (4.5 mg kg(-1)), placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of single intramuscular injection to newborns ⩾35 weeks gestational age whose predischarge screening transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) was >75th percentile.
Results:
Two hundred and thirteen newborns (median age 30 h) were randomized to treatment with SnMP (n=87) or 'sham' (n=89). We found that the duration of phototherapy was halved. Within 12 h of SnMP administration, the natural TB trajectory was reversed. At age 3 to 5 days, TB in the SnMP-treated group was +8% but sixfold lower than the 47% increase in the sham-treated group (P<0.001). At age 7 to 10 days, mean TB declined 18% (P<0.001) compared with a 7.1% increase among controls. No short-term adverse events from SnMP treatment were noted other than photoreactivity due to inadvertent exposure to white light phototherapy.
Conclusion:
Early, predischarge SnMP administration decreased the duration of phototherapy, reversed TB trajectory and reduced the severity of subsequent hyperbilirubinemia.

