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
