MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J.,
March 22, 2017 /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 CAR T-cell cancer
immunotherapy pioneer, Dr. Carl H.
June, M.D., will join its scientific advisory board to help
guide applications of the company's technology in the treatment of
cancer.
Dr. Carl June, Director of the
Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of
Medicine, stated, "Life-threatening inflammation caused by high
grade cytokine release syndrome (CRS) has been observed in a wide
range of cancer immunotherapies. The successful use of CytoSorb to
help treat patients with the similar hyper-inflammatory and
potentially deadly condition called secondary HLH, or
hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, suggests that CytoSorb may help
in managing severe CRS as well. But even beyond cytokine
release syndrome, there is fascinating potential of this unique
immunomodulation therapy in cancer treatment and immuno-oncology,
making it an exciting time for me to become involved."
Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief
Executive Officer of CytoSorbents stated, "We are very fortunate to
welcome Dr. June, one of the true visionaries in oncology research,
to our advisory board. His scientific leadership in CAR T-cell
immunotherapies, that activate a patient's own immune system to
fight certain malignancies, has given cancer patients and their
families around the world new hope. This short video highlights the
groundbreaking importance of his work and that of his team:
https://vimeo.com/67745009 We look forward to his guidance as
we continue expansion of our technology in cancer treatment."
Dr. Carl June is the Richard W.
Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine, Director of the Center for Cellular
Immunotherapies at the Perelman School of Medicine, and Director of
the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania. He maintains a research
laboratory that studies various mechanisms of lymphocyte activation
that relate to immune tolerance and adoptive immunotherapy for
cancer and chronic infection. In 2011, his research team published
findings detailing a new therapy in which patients with refractory
and relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia were treated with
genetically engineered versions of their own T cells. The treatment
has also now been used with promising results to treat children
with refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He has published more
than 350 manuscripts and is the recipient of numerous prizes and
honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine in 2012 and
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014, the William B.
Coley award, the Richard V. Smalley
Memorial Award from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, the
AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology, the Philadelphia
Award in 2012, the Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational
Medical Science in 2014 (shared w S. Grupp, B. Levine, D. Porter),
the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (shared w J.
Allison), the Novartis Prize in Immunology (shared w Z. Eshaar and
S. Rosenberg), the Karl Landsteiner Memorial award, the Debrecen
Award and a lifetime achievement award from the Leukemia and
Lymphoma Society. Dr. June is a graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston,
1979. He had graduate training in Immunology and malaria with Dr.
Paul-Henri Lambert at the World
Health Organization, Geneva,
Switzerland from 1978-79, and post-doctoral training in
transplantation biology with E. Donnell
Thomas and John Hansen at the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle from 1983 - 1986. He is board
certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
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 43 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 of 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 20,000 human
treatments to date. A companion product, VetResQ™, based on similar
underlying technology to CytoSorb, is now commercially available in
the United States for the
treatment of hyper-inflammatory conditions in animal health.
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 in excess of $18 million from DARPA, the U.S. Army, the U.S.
Air Force, 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
31 issued U.S. patents and multiple applications pending, including
CytoSorb-XL, HemoDefend™, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, 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, 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
avogel@cytosorbents.com
Public Relations Contact:
Amy
Phillips
Pascale Communications
412-327-9499
amy@pascalecommunications.com
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SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation