CytoSorbents to Exhibit at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the German Society for Thoracic, Heart and Vascular Surgery
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ--(Marketwired - Feb 5, 2014) - CytoSorbents Corporation (OTCQB: CTSO), a critical care immunotherapy company, announced that it will exhibit at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the German Society for Thoracic, Heart and Vascular Surgery in Freiburg, Germany from February 9-12, 2014. The conference is in cooperation with the Austrian and Swiss Societies for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Cardiothoracic surgery accounts for approximately 1.5 million open-heart surgeries performed worldwide each year, for procedures such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery (for blocked coronary arteries), valve replacement surgery, left ventricular assist device implantation (for end-stage heart failure), and heart and/or lung transplant. Former President Bill Clinton and comedian David Letterman are amongst those notable for having open-heart surgery for heart disease.
In order to operate on the heart, the heart is typically stopped, with blood shunted away from the heart and lungs, to a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) machine, also known as a heart-lung machine, outside of the body. The machine oxygenates the blood and then pumps the blood at high pressure back to the rest of the body. Patients can develop serious post-operative complications such as kidney and lung failure due to the production of inflammatory cytokines, and the release of free hemoglobin by damaged red blood cells.
CytoSorb® is the only specifically approved extracorporeal cytokine filter in the European Union that can be easily installed into a bypass circuit of the CPB machine without the need for an additional blood pump. CytoSorb® directly removes a broad range of cytokines and free hemoglobin from blood, and is a superior drop-in replacement for leukoreduction filters, an existing commercial product that tries, but cannot remove cytokines or free hemoglobin directly. CytoSorb® is being used today in a growing number of major heart centers throughout Germany and Austria, in both regular clinical usage and in investigator initiated studies. It is used both intra-operatively, as well as during the recovery phase in patients that develop a post-operative systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Cardiac surgery represents a total addressable market for CytoSorb® of $0.5 - 1.0 billion in Europe and the U.S. alone.
Dr. Christian Steiner, MD, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of CytoSorbents, stated, "This conference is the most important cardiothoracic surgery meeting in the German speaking community. It attracts cardiac surgeons and heart-lung machine perfusionists from across the region. In order to accelerate sales of CytoSorb® for this segment, we recently hired a very experienced cardiac surgery sales representative with extensive key opinion leader contacts in our direct markets. Her focus will significantly add to the momentum generated by the rest of the sales team in this application. We benefit from encouraging early clinical data generated by our collaborators, a unique competitive position, and a strong value proposition. We see cardiac surgery as a very robust additional market to the critical care applications that we continue to pursue aggressively."
About CytoSorbents Corporation
CytoSorbents is a critical care focused immunotherapy company using blood purification to modulate inflammation -- with the goal of preventing or treating multiple organ failure in life-threatening illnesses. Organ failure is the cause of nearly half of all deaths in the intensive care unit, with little to improve clinical outcome. CytoSorb®, the Company's flagship product, is approved in the European Union as a safe and effective extracorporeal cytokine filter, designed to reduce the "cytokine storm" that could otherwise cause massive inflammation, organ failure and death in common critical illnesses such as sepsis, burn injury, trauma, lung injury, and pancreatitis. These are conditions where the mortality is extremely high, yet no effective treatments exist. In addition, CytoSorb® can be used in other inflammatory conditions such as cardiac surgery and autoimmune disease flares. 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. CytoSorbents has numerous products under development based upon this unique blood purification technology, protected by 32 issued US patents and multiple applications pending, including HemoDefend™, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, and others. Additional information is available for download on the Company's website: http://www.cytosorbents.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. Forward-looking statements in this press release are not promises or guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. We caution you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein. Risk factors are detailed in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 3, 2013, which is available at http://www.sec.gov.
