ITV Studios will shop Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures at next month’s MIPCOM, having secured international distribution rights on Tuesday for the Shaftesbury drama.

The eight-part Toronto-set miniseries — based on the award-winning book by writer and emergency room doctor Vincent Lam — follows the lives and loves of medical students, young doctors and their patients. Jason Sherman (Murdoch Mysteries) adapted the literary work for television. The mini stars Byron Mann (Dark Angel), Mayko Nguyen (ReGenesis) and Shawn Ashmore (the X-Men movies).

‘This unique take on the medical drama combines all the tensions of a hospital setting and the emotional ups and downs of a moving relationship drama, executed with a unique sense of individual style,’ commented ITV head of drama acquisitions Noel Hedges, adding, ‘It will hook audiences from the start.’

Shaftesbury’s Christina Jennings and Scott Garvie exec produce, while directors on the series include Kari Skogland (Fifty Dead Men Walking) and Gail Harvey (The Line).

Bloodletting will air on The Movie Network and Movie Central in January 2010. It wraps production this month in Toronto.