Board of Directors and Stockholders
Biopure Corporation

      We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Biopure Corporation (the Company) as of October 31, 2001 and 2000, and the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended October 31, 2001. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

      We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

      In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Biopure Corporation at October 31, 2001 and 2000, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended October 31, 2001, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

ERNST & YOUNG LLP

Boston, Massachusetts
December 10, 2001, except for
Note 14, as to which the date
is January 22, 2002