MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., March 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO), a critical care immunotherapy leader commercializing its flagship CytoSorb® blood filter to treat deadly inflammation in critically-ill and cardiac surgery patients around the world, announced that the company was awarded a $150,000 Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract for its development program entitled “Mycotoxin Adsorption with Hemocompatible Porous Polymer Beads.”  A successful Phase I effort will position the company to be competitive for selection in the Phase II SBIR program, valued at more than $1 million.

Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents stated: “Mycotoxins are poisonous toxins produced by fungi, like black mold and Aspergillus.  The purpose of this Phase I SBIR contract is to develop effective blood purification countermeasures for weaponized mycotoxins that can be easily disseminated in water, food and air.  Examples include aflatoxin which can cause acute liver failure, neurologic coma, and death, and T2 toxin which can cause fatal lung and liver injury, bone marrow destruction, nerve damage and bleeding.”

“But this program also highlights the more clinical application of our blood purification technology to treat patients with fungal infections today,” stated Dr. Chan. “Fungal infections account for approximately 25% of all hospital-acquired blood infections, are common in immune compromised patients, and have caused the death of more than 90% of infected patients in some studies due to fungal sepsis.  Mycotoxins and excessive cytokine production can be devastating in fungal sepsis.  CytoSorb® reduces aflatoxin, likely a broad range of other mycotoxins, and cytokines very efficiently in blood and has been used to help successfully treat a number of patients with fungal sepsis to date.  Because of this, CytoSorb® represents a new, potentially synergistic strategy in treating these deadly infections.  More than $6 billion is spent on anti-fungal medications annually.”

This work is being funded by the U.S. Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD) under contract W911QY-16-P-0048.

About CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO)

CytoSorb® is approved in the European Union with distribution in 32 countries around the world, as a safe and effective extracorporeal cytokine adsorber, designed to reduce the “cytokine storm” or “cytokine release syndrome” that could otherwise cause massive inflammation, organ failure and death in common critical illnesses such as sepsis, burn injury, trauma, lung injury, and pancreatitis, as well as in cancer immunotherapy.  These are conditions where the risk of death is extremely high, yet no effective treatments exist.  CytoSorb^® is also being used during and after cardiac surgery to remove inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines and free hemoglobin, which can lead to post-operative complications, including multiple organ failure.  CytoSorb® has been used safely in more than 11,000 human treatments to date.

CytoSorbents’ purification technologies are based on biocompatible, highly porous polymer beads that can actively remove toxic substances from blood and other bodily fluids by pore capture and surface adsorption.  The Company has numerous products under development based upon this unique blood purification technology, protected by 32 issued U.S. patents and multiple applications pending, including HemoDefend™, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, and others.  Additional information is available for download on the Company’s websites:  https://cytosorbents.com and http://www.cytosorb.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, representations and contentions and are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue” and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. You should be aware that the forward-looking statements in this press release represent management’s current judgment and expectations, but our actual results, events and performance could differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 9, 2016, as updated by the risks reported in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and in the press releases and other communications to shareholders issued by us from time to time which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors which may affect our business. We caution you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as required under the Federal securities laws.

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SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation