Thomas Hager: The oxypolygelatin work. Linus called you, along with himself and Campbell, the
inventors of oxypolygelatin.
Joseph Koepfli: I did all the chemistry.
Thomas Hager: Ok, ok. How would you rank that work?
Joseph Koepfli: Oh, it was nothing. No, nothing. It was just kitchen stewing. It was perfectly
obvious, everything I did. But the funny part about the oxypolygelatin was it was
used. We took a patent out, a public service patent, and because it was done on the
NDRC...support, it was used. Motorcycle officers around Los Angeles, for example,
carried it because they'd be the first to the scene of an accident. They would use
that as a blood [enlarger?], if you will, because if the person was breathing heavily
they would give them their oxypolygelatin. Well Linus told me, I guess it was in
'85 or thereabouts, Linus told me, which I'd never known, he said "You know they used
it for years in North Korea." And of course they never paid any royalties. They
just used it for years and years and years-
Thomas Hager: I think he was always disappointed that the government didn't pick up on it more.
Joseph Koepfli: Well, the reason they didn't was because the Red Cross and the blood banks got going
in a big way, and obviously they'd rather have whole blood and serum than they would
oxypolygelatin. So I don't think that was warranted, I think that they used it for
emergencies until the blood banks got going. And when they got going, there was really
no need of it.
