MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO), a leader in critical care immunotherapy using its CytoSorb® blood purification technology to help patients survive sepsis and other life-threatening inflammatory conditions, commemorates World Sepsis Day 2017 (September 13th) with a host of related activities.

  • CytoSorbents recently sponsored the Sepsis Update 2017 Congress in Weimar, Germany (September 6-8th) hosted by the German Sepsis Society.  More than 1,000 healthcare providers, mainly from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, attend this conference each year.  The focus of this year’s conference was “Bugs (Difficult to treat infections), Drugs (Novel strategies for antimicrobial treatment), Damage (Targeted strategies in organ failure), and Repair (Post-acute care and outcome research)”
    • CytoSorbents hosted a research symposium chaired by two of the leading international figures in sepsis and intensive care, Prof. Dr. med. Herwig Gerlach (Berlin, Germany), President of the German Sepsis Society and Prof. Jean-Louis Vincent, MD, PhD (Brussels, Belgium), President of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, who led the scientific discussion following presentations by several major key opinion leaders.
      • Prof. Dr. med. Herwig Gerlach presented on “Cytokine adsorption in septic shock – Background, rationale, and latest data”.  Highlighting the current definition of sepsis as “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection”, Prof. Gerlach emphasized the importance of broadly reducing inflammatory mediators to control sepsis and discussed recent papers supporting the early and aggressive use of CytoSorb in sepsis and refractory septic shock.
      • Prof. Dr. Zsolt Molnar (Szeged, Hungary) discussed “CytoSorb in clinical practice – Individualize your treatment” and the importance of restoring a balanced immune response between both pro- and anti-inflammatory forces, in infection and injury.  He also spoke on the challenges of treating sepsis patients, and used a CytoSorb treatment case to demonstrate the benefits of tailoring therapy.  Prof. Molnar expects to shortly complete a 20-patient randomized, controlled septic shock study using CytoSorb®.
      • Prof. Dr. med. Frank Brunkhorst (Jena, Germany) gave an update on the 4th analysis of the International CytoSorb Registry, including over 350 patients, of which more than 250 had sepsis or septic shock. He reported an approximately 36% relative reduction in mortality in extremely sick patients with an APACHE II score above 35 and a predicted mortality of 91%.  The 3rd analysis of the CytoSorb registry has been accepted for publication.
  • CytoSorbents will again proudly sponsor the 6th Annual Celebration of Sepsis Heroes event hosted by the Sepsis Alliance tonight, September 14, 2017 in New York City at Arena NYC (135 West 41st Street) from 6:30 – 10:00 PM EDT.  The event recognizes individuals and organizations that are making a difference in sepsis awareness.  This year’s honorees include the Children’s Hospital Association, Dr. Andre Vovan, MD, Sue Sirianni and Maria Palleschi, Sue and Jay Stull, Jon Glaudemans, and Liz and Tony Galbo.  The event is currently at capacity.

CytoSorbents Logo. (PRNewsFoto/CytoSorbents)

Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, CEO of CytoSorbents stated, “We share the vision of the Global Sepsis Alliance of a world free of sepsis.  World Sepsis Day is a call to action to recognize and fight this threat that remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide.  Collectively, we are making progress.  In the past year, the World Health Organization declared sepsis a global health priority. Bloomberg News reported that ‘America has a $27 billion sepsis crisis‘.  Sanitation, vaccination, earlier detection, faster treatment, better antibiotics, reduction of pathogenic toxins, restoration of a normal immune response, and prevention or treatment of organ failure are the keys to fighting this enemy.  CytoSorb is advancing as part of the solution by targeting these last three components, helping to stabilize septic patients in many thousands of treatments to date.”

Sepsis is a medical emergency that results from of an overzealous immune response to a serious infection, driven by a “cytokine storm”, leading to widespread deadly inflammation that can cause multiple organ failure, immune paralysis, and death.  According to the Global Sepsis Alliance, sepsis afflicts approximately 30 million people each year worldwide, and kills someone every few seconds, despite the use of antibiotics.

CytoSorb® blood purification works to control the excessive inflammatory response through cytokine reduction, removal of bacterial toxins, and redirection of activated white blood cells to the area of infection and away from healthy organs.  In doing so, the goal is to work together with antibiotics to prevent or treat organ failure, the leading cause of death in sepsis.

About World Sepsis Day

World Sepsis Day is an initiative of the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA) and its founding non-profit members:  The World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses, the International Sepsis Forum, and the Sepsis Alliance.  The goals of World Sepsis Day are to:

  • Reduce the incidence of sepsis through effective prevention strategies
  • Increase sepsis survival rates for all population groups around the world
  • Provide better access to suitable rehabilitation services for people everywhere
  • Increase awareness and understanding of sepsis among healthcare professionals and the general public

For more information, visit www.world-sepsis-day.org

About the German Sepsis Society

The German Sepsis Society (GSS) is the primary medical society in Germany whose mission is to educate and increase public and professional awareness about sepsis.  The organization brings together leaders in sepsis research, diagnostics, treatment, and education in order to also encourage new research, recognize valuable scientific contributions, and foster collaborations to help save lives.  A major goal is to support the rapid implementation of effective sepsis diagnostics and therapies into the standard of care treatment for sepsis.  Members of the GSS have been heavily involved with SepNet, or the Sepsis Competence Network, a consortium of hospitals and investigators funded for 10 years by the German Federal Ministry of Education to conduct research and clinical trials in sepsis.  The GSS also initiated the foundation of the organization, German Sepsis Aid, by people who survived sepsis and their relatives, to provide assistance, information, and networking for those whose lives have been touched by sepsis.  For more information, visit www.sepsis-gesellschaft.de/DSG/Englisch

About the Sepsis Alliance™ and Sepsis Heroes Evening

The Sepsis Alliance is a charitable organization run by a team of dedicated laypeople and professionals who share a strong commitment to battling sepsis.  The goal is to raise awareness of sepsis through information and educational material so it can be detected and treated early enough that no harm is done.  The Sepsis Heroes Evening is an award reception, being held in New York City, designed to raise awareness of sepsis and to recognize the unique contributions of individuals who have committed their time and energy for the cause.  For more information, visit www.sepsis.org

About CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO)

CytoSorbents Corporation is a leader in critical care immunotherapy, specializing in blood purification. Its flagship product, CytoSorb® is approved in the European Union with distribution in 44 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. CytoSorbents has completed its REFRESH (REduction in FREe Hemoglobin) 1 trial – a multi-center, randomized controlled study that has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of free hemoglobin reduction with intra-operative CytoSorb® use in a heart-lung machine during complex cardiac surgery.  In 2017, the Company plans to initiate a pivotal REFRESH 2 trial intended to support U.S. FDA approval.  CytoSorb® has been used safely in more than 27,000 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. Its technologies have received non-dilutive grant, contract, and other funding of approximately $20 million from DARPA, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and others.  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 CytoSorb-XL™, HemoDefend™, VetResQ™, K+ontrol™, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, and others.  For more information, please visit the Company’s websites at www.cytosorbents.com and www.cytosorb.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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 3, 2017, 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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CytoSorbents Contact:
Amy Vogel
Investor Relations
(732) 398-5394
[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:
Bob Yedid
LifeSci Advisors
646-597-6989
[email protected]

Public Relations Contact:
Amy Phillips
Pascale Communications
412-327-9499
[email protected]

SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation