PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CytoSorbents
Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO), a leader in the treatment of
life-threatening conditions in the intensive care unit and cardiac
surgery using blood purification via its proprietary polymer
adsorption technology, announced today that its Chief Financial
Officer, Kathleen P. Bloch, MBA,
CPA, plans to retire on March 31,
2023 at age 68, following a distinguished decade-long career
at the Company. A search has been initiated for Ms. Bloch's
replacement. Meanwhile, following her retirement next
year, Ms. Bloch will continue as a consultant of the Company to
provide, among other services, continuity during the transition of
her successor.
Ms. Bloch stated, "It has been a privilege and a pleasure to be
a part of the incredible team at CytoSorbents over the past 9 plus
years, during which time we have achieved rapid growth in both our
company and our business, while helping to save the lives of
patients around the world. It has been an exciting and
personally fulfilling journey, made more enjoyable by the positive
chemistry and culture of our management team and employee base,
which is a major reason why I have postponed my retirement for so
long. But I am pleased to have been a major contributor, and
look back on the accomplishments of my talented and highly capable
finance and accounting teams in both the U.S. and Europe with pride. I believe the Company
has an exciting future ahead, and look forward to an anticipated
return to sales growth and the achievement of our first U.S. FDA
marketing approval. Although I will retire formally at the
end of March next year, I intend to continue supporting the Company
from the sidelines as both a long-term shareholder and as a
consultant as needed."
Dr. Phillip Chan, Chief Executive
Officer of CytoSorbents stated, "Kathy is an outstanding CFO and
member of our leadership team, and we are extremely fortunate to
have her. Among Kathy's many accomplishments, she was
instrumental in our successful up-listing to Nasdaq. As CFO
of a public company, Kathy has also been responsible for timely and
consistent accounting, SEC reporting, and Sarbanes Oxley
compliance, and has worked diligently to design and strengthen our
system of internal controls. Kathy was also key in the
capitalization of our company by supporting numerous successful
fund raisings in cumulative excess of $140
million and establishing a favorable debt facility, enabling
us to finance the global expansion of our business to 75 countries
and to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Through maintenance of a strong network of investors, bankers, and
analysts, and presentations and investor meetings at numerous
conferences, Kathy supports analyst coverage from six investment
banks, and has been a welcomed partner in our investor relations
outreach. Meanwhile, she has developed, mentored, and led an
outstanding group of finance and accounting professionals who
expertly manage a broad and complex range of international trade
and accounting issues, from consolidation of subsidiary results
based in different currencies, to international tax policies.
Lastly, Kathy has overseen the modernization of our finance
and accounting information technology systems to support our
growing needs."
"We are also very proud of Kathy's well-deserved accomplishments
outside of the Company. Kathy was the 2016 NJ BIZ Magazine's
Public Company CFO of the Year, currently serves as Chapter
President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Mercer
Chapter of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants
(NJCPA), and was the recipient of the 2021 NJCPA Ovation Award
recognizing CPAs who have had an impact on their jobs, communities,
and the accounting profession."
Dr. Chan concluded, "Above all, Kathy has been a tremendous
pleasure to work with as a trusted colleague who embodies the
values of our Company as a positive, kind, committed, and generous
leader who puts our people and our mission ahead of herself.
We feel honored to cap her outstanding financial executive career
in successful private and public companies, and will miss her
greatly. On behalf of the entire Company and our Board of
Directors, we thank Kathy for her many years of dedication and
service to the Company and wish her all the best in retirement and
in this next phase in her life."
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.
Please Click to Follow Us on Facebook and Twitter
CytoSorbents Contact:
Kathleen Bloch
(732) 398-5429
kbloch@cytosorbents.com
U.S. Public Relations Contact:
Eric Kim
Rubenstein Public Relations
212-805-3052
ekim@rubensteinpr.com
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cytosorbents-announces-pending-retirement-of-chief-financial-officer-kathleen-p-bloch-301643417.html
SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation