CytoSorbents Awarded an Approximately $4.3M Contract by the U.S. Department of Defense to Develop HemoDefend-BGA™ for Freeze-Dried Universal Plasma

PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO), a critical care immunotherapy leader specializing in blood purification, announced today that the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) has awarded the Company a three-year Phase III contract valued at $4,292,641 to customize the design of the HemoDefend-BGA™ filter for sterile integration into collections systems for freeze-dried plasma processing to generate freeze-dried universal plasma.  Without the need for blood typing, widespread availability of universal plasma could help save lives via faster emergency treatment in both civilian and military settings. 

Dr. Maryann Gruda, PhD, Principal Investigator and Senior Director of Biology at CytoSorbents stated, "We are excited to begin this phase of our development program.  The continued support and funding of our anti-A and anti-B blood group antibody (BGA) reduction technology by the Defense Health Agency and U.S. Army will be instrumental in bringing this technology to market.  This award will fund the development and scale-up of a specialized HemoDefend-BGA filter that can be integrated with freeze-dried plasma technologies to generate a logistically superior, low titer plasma product that can be administered to anyone, irrespective of blood type, while maintaining critical coagulation activity."

Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents stated, "Freeze-dried plasma is dry and lightweight, stable for up to 2 years at room temperature, and can be quickly reconstituted with sterile water when needed.  However, it currently remains a blood-type specific product, complicating its use.  HemoDefend-BGA can remove blood-type specific antibodies from single donor or pooled plasma prior to freeze-drying, with the goal of ultimately producing a 'one-size-fits-all' freeze-dried universal plasma – a major advance.  Such a product would also eliminate the need for cold-chain storage – greatly simplifying battlefield logistics and enabling first responders to provide mobile/remote emergency resuscitation in civilian trauma." 

The HemoDefend-BGA filter is not yet approved in the U.S. or elsewhere.  This award was supported by the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs/Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program (JWMRP) under U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) Contract No. W81XWH-22-C-0046.  The award is entitled "Integrating Isoagglutinin Reduction for a Universal Dried Plasma Product for Battlefield and First Responder Use."  The outcome of this award is expected to be the large-scale manufacturing of the active polymer for subsequent integration of the device into the plasma freeze-drying process.

The content of this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense, DHA, SBIR/STTR Programs, JWMRP, or USAMRAA. 

About HemoDefend-BGA™

CytoSorbents is developing HemoDefend-BGA to enable both universal plasma and fresh whole blood transfusions through the reduction of anti-A and anti-B blood group antibodies via our advanced blood purification technology.  Today, plasma and whole blood products must be carefully blood-type matched to prevent potentially fatal hemolytic transfusion reactions in the recipient, caused by the accidental administration of mismatched blood products.  The reduction of anti-A and anti-B antibodies could potentially reduce or eliminate this risk, allowing for a broader range of available donors and simplifying the transfusion process. According to the American Red Cross, nearly 10,000 units of plasma are needed daily in the United States, or more than 3.5 million units a year. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that plasma is transfused at a rate of 2.2 – 18.9 units per 1,000 population (median 7.7 units) globally.  In westernized countries alone, with a population of 1.5 billion, there are approximately 12 million units of plasma administered each year.  The total addressable market for HemoDefend-BGA in transfusion medicine in westernized countries alone is an estimated $400 million to $600 million and represents a fraction of the global market.

About CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO)

CytoSorbents Corporation is a leader in the treatment of life-threatening conditions in the intensive care unit and in cardiac surgery through blood purification.  Its lead product, CytoSorb®, is approved in the European Union and distributed in 75 countries worldwide. It is an extracorporeal cytokine adsorber that reduces "cytokine storm" or "cytokine release syndrome" in common critical illnesses that can lead to massive inflammation, organ failure and patient death.  In these diseases, the risk of death can be extremely high, and there are few, if any, effective treatments.  CytoSorb is also used during and after cardiothoracic surgery to remove inflammatory mediators that can lead to postoperative complications, including multiple organ failure.  As of June 30, 2022, more than 179,000 CytoSorb devices have been used cumulatively.  CytoSorb was originally launched in the European Union under CE mark as the first cytokine adsorber.  Additional CE mark extensions were granted for bilirubin and myoglobin removal in clinical conditions such as liver disease and trauma, respectively, and for ticagrelor and rivaroxaban removal in cardiothoracic surgery procedures.  CytoSorb has also received FDA Emergency Use Authorization in the United States for use in adult critically ill COVID-19 patients with impending or confirmed respiratory failure.  The DrugSorb™-ATR antithrombotic removal system, based on the same polymer technology as CytoSorb, also received two FDA Breakthrough Device Designations, one for the removal of ticagrelor and another for the removal of the direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) apixaban and rivaroxaban in a cardiopulmonary bypass circuit during urgent cardiothoracic procedures.  The company has initiated two FDA-approved pivotal studies to support FDA marketing approval of DrugSorb-ATR in the United States.  The first is the randomized, controlled STAR-T (Safe and Timely Antithrombotic Removal-Ticagrelor) study of 120 patients at 30 centers to evaluate whether intraoperative use of DrugSorb-ATR can reduce the perioperative risk of bleeding in patients receiving ticagrelor and undergoing cardiothoracic surgery.  The second study is the STAR–D (Safe and Timely Antithrombotic Removal-Direct Oral Anticoagulants) randomized, controlled trial of 120 patients at 30 centers evaluating the intraoperative use of DrugSorb-ATR to reduce perioperative bleeding risk in patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery and taking direct oral anticoagulants, including apixaban and rivaroxaban.

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 $48 million from DARPA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Air Force Material Command (USAF/AFMC), and others.  The Company has numerous marketed products and products under development based upon this unique blood purification technology protected by many issued U.S. and international patents and registered trademarks, and multiple patent applications pending, including ECOS-300CY®, CytoSorb-XL™, HemoDefend-RBC™, HemoDefend-BGA™, VetResQ®, K⁺ontrol™, DrugSorb™, DrugSorb™-ATR, ContrastSorb, and others. For more information, please visit the Company's websites at www.cytosorbents.com and www.cytosorb.com or 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, future targets and outlooks for our business, expectations regarding the future impacts of COVID-19 or the ongoing conflict between Russia and the Ukraine, 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 10, 2022, 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: 
Kathleen Bloch
(732) 398-5429
[email protected]

U.S. Public Relations Contact:
Eric Kim
Rubenstein Public Relations
212-805-3052
[email protected]

SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation