Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Thanks Andy... One of the very few people I'd never met in person that I considered a friend.
Heads up, people! The true meaning of words are often lost in the translation! Several good points have been made, no happy faces and thumbs up pictures if the patients died! Further, prolonging life could be interpreted as getting the patient through the cytokine flare, the dangerous period, and regaining control of their patients life. Quote; "From March 3, the "new weapon" has been used in clinical treatment, with the expectation of generating more benefits for early stage patients in severe illness." The Doctors were specifically referring to Cytosorbents filter! My 2 cents; The attending physicians would not have said this if the patients had died! Common sense! I believe in the next several weeks there could be very positive media reports regarding the benefits of our filter! It has begun. Its unfortunate that it took a world pandemic to shine the light on Cytosorbents...
Techxen, I don't know how you find this stuff, but you're certainly better at it than I! Thank You! Here's to the Medical Community finally discovering the value of our filter with the problem of runaway cytokines! SOC right around the corner!
JGR, You need to sell your shares and buy AMZN. I promise you, you will make money.
Andy... I am truly saddened to get the news of Bertha's passing this morning. He always stated the facts, always was positive in his attitude, and if there was a negative thought I never heard him say it. He would always be coming up with relevant facts and offer them to us in an unassuming way. You would fill in color and offer links to the subject. You were a formidable team against misinformation. Thank you for sharing the news, and the obituary. It appears Bertha treated us as he treated all those in his life. A real class act. I will miss him.
Bravo! Murph! Thanks for the gut laugh... Spiritually uplifting!
Techxen...Although there would be a larger pool of patients to treat in China, the time to get the trial format, approvals and infrastructure in place, I personally think it might be better to look at Italy or another country that has approval and experience in place now to test the filter. Just my opinion... An interesting video from Wuhan, turn on subtitles. I hope the rulling body does not id this fellow... [Wuhan Coronavirus] Wuhan citizen seeking help from the world
I'm not a chartist, but if you look at the daily chart going to May-June of '18, I see resistance at 8.25 again at 12 then 15 and after that who knows, sky's the limit, however, like I said earlier, we may be on the cusp of a "Black Swan" event, we find ourselves on the right side of it, unless you're short, and that trumps the charts.
Thinking about this supply problem... I wouldn't be surprised to see Dr. Chan go outside the plant to shore up the capacity on a temporary basis, and outsource with a high quality facility to add capacity, big time. Anyone know the hoops we need to jump through and the potential costs involved with such an arrangement? Shoot, I was going to point out there was a nice flag forming and I was going to predict we would be blowing through $7 shortly, but I see we already have! Upwards and onward...
Techxen, who ever wrote this, their level of understanding biologics is not casual. I will have to read this several times and follow up with the highlighted references to try to get an intellectual foothold on what is going on here. I assume we can't order up the ingredients mentioned at the end of the message, sprinkle a bit on our jello, or in our after dinner drink. I have run the numbers if this were to become a conflagration. It would be like trying to put out a forest fire by peeing on it. If this simply follows in the footsteps of the 1918 Spanish flu, considering the world population today, expect 50 to 100 million dead, within two years. We would need at a minimum 4 million filters a month, and that would limit each person to one, assuming the pumps and personnel existed, but look on the bright side. The Plague during the Middle Ages was 4-5 times worse and much more deadly! Now that would be scary! I expect to see an impressive jump in the pps, the last couple days perhaps the precursor to better returns just around the corner? Good luck to all of you...
If I remember correctly, its 3 years shelf life... I also don't think the filter, once distributed can be transferred out of its area, remember, Fresenius could not transfer its inventory from Europe to Mexico.
Techxen, I agree with you that the momentum of Cytosorbents applications are developing rapidly as is our revenue. We are approaching profitability. I don't know when we will reach that goal, though I believe it could happen this year. You also said, "Any news next week of coronavirus patients from China who have been successfully stabilized using the filter, will also provide a significant boost to the share price going into the earnings call". That is an understatement... I personally think that we may be witnessing the beginnings of a "Black Swan" event for Cytosorbents, IF Dr. Chan and the KOLs can demonstrate the effectiveness of our filter early on for the sickest patients suffering from COVID-19. I don't want to seem like an alarmist, but google the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. We see very close similarities if you overlay the etiology and symptomology of COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu affected 1/3 of the worlds population, and 2.5% of those died, same rate as the COVID-19 strain. The Spanish flu was transmitted by human carriers, same as COVID-19. Both strains resulting in death is due to a virulent pneumonia, that's why we keep seeing pictures of chest x-rays associated with this strain. The incubation rate is 14 to 21 days, making it very difficult to identify and isolate the carriers in our population. If the Cytosorb filter is accepted as SOC in the sickest population, I don't think it will be in China, but a European country, perhaps Italy where today it was announced that a flare of 60 people have been identified as infected with COVID-19. If we are recognized as a SOC treatment for the sickest patients, the problem would not be the huge demand for the filters, but the severe lack of the number of machines, the dialysis pumps, ECMO, the blood pumps required to treat the people in need. Lets hope we can put a lid on this strain, but to be honest, it is not looking very good. I would not wish to profit on the misfortune of others, but if we can save some of their lives, then that is good.
Techxen... should this come to pass, AND Cytosorbents is recognized as a soc for the virus, I estimate my holdings of stock should be worth 1.5 BBBillion dollars. I guess I can hold my shares a bit longer...
Ks... could you copy and paste the numbers from 10.45. I am getting an error message. If we compare the numbers with earlier 10Q's, that could give an indication of momentum of future sales, if the data exists.
OK, I'm in at 6.8
Shouldn't be long before your words "he's having his ass handed to him" come back to haunt you. Considering all the information publicly available at this time, I predict we will be part of NASDAQ by calendar year end.
Thank you B52! Would the alarmists please explain to me what caused the warming of the Earth 125000 years ago and why Greenland was green? New Danish research has shown that it was covered in conifer forest and had a relatively mild climate. The research is painting a picture which is overturning all previous assumptions about biological life and the climate in Greenland. The findings also show evidence of ice in Greenland during the Eemian interglacial period 125,000 years ago, which indicates that although we are now confronted with global warming, the whole ice sheet will probably not melt and bring about the tremendous sea-level rises which have been the subject of so much discussion. According to most scientific theories to date, all of southern Greenland and most of the northern part were ice-free during the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago, when the climate was 5 degrees warmer than the interglacial period we currently live in. Gee, caveman in France must have been burning camp fires round the clock to have caused such a rise in temperatures! I had a stupid thought... Maybe it was the sun! It does fluctuate, distance and intensity... Hummmm… On another note... I see the CDC is screening travelers coming from China at JFK, LAX and SFO for a new outbreak of a coronavirus. More than 45 cases of the newly identified coronavirus have been confirmed in Asia, most of them in Wuhan, including two deaths. FDA! Need to get our filter approved here in the US!
So, Andy... I'm no Doc, and the need for our treatment fluctuates from patient to patient depending on the cause and the patients age. If I were the Doc in this case, I think I would have kept the patient on the therapy at least one more day, after all 55000 treatments and no adverse effects due to the filter, giving his body another day or two to gain some strength. Hospital acquired Pneumonia was bad luck. But no round two with Cytosrbents? Was this second infection beyond the scope of Cytosorbents ability? Or was it the patients age and his body just gave out? A tough one, almost saved him. I would like to see a study or trial that focuses on severe septic infection Staph? MERSA? that causes the loss of hands and feet, and the application of the filter early on in the course of the infection as soon as the patient goes septic. Then compare the percentages of those who lost their extremities and the severity of that loss, with and without the filter. I would be willing to bet we would see a substantial difference. just my thoughts...
Hemo and Burnt, I think Bertha has a pretty good handle on the "Where could this go" part. The value is driven, not only from the Doctor directly involved with the end user, the patient, and the Hospitals and government entities but also, Insurance Companies. Look at Exact Sciences for example. Two years ago their stock was selling close to ours, 5-6 dollars a share. They have a test that is 90% accurate in identifying people who have Colon-Rectal cancers. Their test costs $400, verses $2000 for a colonoscopy. 9 out of 10 tests come back negative. So the insurance industry saves $1800 9 times out of 10 when the Color-guard test is used. Its simple logic... Before they will authorize the Colonoscopy, the patient must use the Color-guard test. We are in a similar position as Exact Sciences. We can save the patient lots of heart ache, consider, Sepsis, just in the conclusions of the Case of the Week reports, I know of at least two cases where necrosis was observed in the extremities which was subsequently reversed once Cytosorbents filtration was commenced. How many arms and legs can we save? What is the cost savings? To patients, hospitals, insurance companies? By the way, Exact Sciences, in a similar circumstance, but much more restricted from a use point of view, is currently trading between 115 and 120 per share. We haven't discovered all the potential uses for the filter, but we know it works...
If your going to get in or add to position, now is the time, I wouldn't hold off to see where this might go...
If your a sailor, Transpac 2019 is on! http://yb.tl/transpac2019#
Today's market seems to agree with you, Bertha... A little confirmation Monday?
Burnt, I would settle for a transcript!
Bertha, Burnt... Thanks Bertha for passing the research along... as I read the publications coming down the pipe, I'm frustrated at the end of the articles because I have read about the "Strategies to improve the safety profile of CAR-T without negatively impacting efficacy are needed to improve its benefit-risk profile, cost-effectiveness and to enable CAR-T to move beyond use solely in relapsed/refractory patients to earlier lines of therapy." or "the proposed pathophysiology of CAR-T induced NT and cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and identified GM-CSF neutralization as a strategy with potential to simultaneously improve both the safety and efficacy of CAR-T". Well, this article was spotlighting Humanigen, Inc, and if you read the "About Humanigen" after the article, it explains their focus treating the inflammatory responses. "Humanigen, Inc. is developing its portfolio of Humaneered® monoclonal antibodies to address cutting-edge CAR-T optimization and the need for new oncology DRUGS that provide safer, better, and more effective cancer therapies. So... The existing problems that need addressing are fairly well understood. I also believe that the EARLY adaption of Cytosorbents filter would have a better than even chance of solving the immune response complication. Why haven't we heard word one of interest from anyone grappling with this complication? Not even, "We are in talks to gauge the effectivness of the Cytosorb Filter in addressing the immune response associated with Car-T therapies". Its frustrating to say the least.
Orangecat, I don't believe Fresenius has left the countries in Europe in exchange for South Korea and Mexico. Doesn't the latest agreement simply allow for the expansion of Cytosorb into these previously exclusive areas? Dr Chan did a good job in the question and answer period explaining the effectivness of the sales personnel from Cytosorb over the sales force of Fresenius because the filter is our only product verses many products that the Fresenius sales force deals with. Fresenius will work down the inventory they have. This change may have come about because of the improvement of the sales numbers when compared between Fresenius sales efforts and ours. On another note, as I listen to the presentations by Dr. Chan, I get the feeling that Dr. Chan is trying to stuff as much detailed information as he possibly can into a fixed amount of time. At times during the presentation he almost sounds like an auctioneer, and I could hear him struggling with the mechanics of all the words he wants to say in the limited amount of time to say it. He could improve the flow of the presentation and give himself the benefit of relaxing a bit more if he didn't try to fill in all the technical aspects to such detail for all the applications he presents. The physics of the filter and its action, yes, but all the details, maybe not. There are many people listening to him who's interests might be picked allowing for a productive question and answer period following the presentation. Establishing that one on one within a group is very important for a successful sales presentation and subsequent Q and A's, and I'm sure it is a challenge to do so while following the guidelines of safe harbor and the make up of different groups, ie., investor confrences vs Cytosorb Users Meetings... it is a challenge. That being said, it is also good to see Cytosorbents acceleration of acceptance of this science.
BG, After reading your post, I realize there are some similarities between the process and problems with planning reimbursements as they might apply with the Car-T evolution, ie, what will be covered, what will not and how that will change as the therapy matures. Of course, the simplest solution for us would be a blanket approval of our filter for elevated immunological response similar to the CE approval. However, we know the FDA is not so lenient when it comes to approving new therapies or modalities supporting those therapies. I would really like to see an in depth discussion, that addresses the questions regarding approvals, reimbursement, assignment of treatment codes, and the expectation of Cytosorb. No doubt Cytosorb has a plan in place and although some might say it would be premature to discuss these concerns, I don't think it's too early to address this with the share holders.
Bertha, Thanks for the heads up... Here is the full article:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333035905_Application_of_Hemoadsorption_in_Neonatal_and_Pediatric_Hyperinflammatory_States_A_Case_Series
Bertha, After your post regarding this latest pediatric case, I scanned the results of the previous pediatric cases, and it seems to me that the results of the youngest patients, those say 13 or younger, have the best results of all patients I've seen. Some have been deathly ill and they have made spectacular recoveries. What a boon to the pediatric sector of health care this filter might make! I wonder if its simply youth that gives them this advantage... Definitely another application worth investigating!
Hey B-52, Love the handle... you are into military aircraft...a Pilot? I was offered flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, if I passed the physical and re-enlisted to the school for the UH-1 in 1971. Since I had been wounded in action twice in Vietnam prior to the opportunity I eventually decided against it, as the obvious assignment after that would be back to Vietnam and you know what they say... Third times the charm. My handle came from a nephew who is a licensed handler of raptors, and runs a business raising and training them. Closest I've come to an F-22 is a brother that applies the coatings that soak up the radar to the aircraft. We once joked about running a Porsche 911 I owned thru the plant, except for the misappropriation of government materials... that would have been fun!
Regarding picking stocks... well, I assume I do it the same way everyone else does, as I read or hear stuff I'm interested in I'll jot down the name of the company or its symbol and look em up, paying attention to the education and track record of the primary officers, the competition, size of market, usual economics related to the company. I watch for unusual swings in the market, and patience. I figure we will see several million dollar opportunities in each of our life times. It takes a lot of study, luck and guts to identify them and place a position. Knowing when to get out also helps a lot. 2008, Sleep Comfort wasn't selling any beds because the housing market had crashed. Stock fell from 20s to .20! We all knew the housing market would turn around and so would the bed business, question is, would Sleep Comfort survive. That is the risk that needs to be factored in. My mistake on Exact labs, I failed to consider the benefit of their test to the health insurance companies. Their test costs $400 with 92% accuracy. A Colonoscopy costs $2200. 9 out of 10 colonoscopies are negative. So the insurance industry insisted on Exact Sciences test before authorizing a colonoscopy and they are saving tons of money! EXAS took off! Keep your eyes and ears open, and every now and then you will get wind of a "no brainer" to invest in. most often the "no brainer" explodes on or just after leaving the launch pad... Thats why I like CTSO, if it were to explode, it should have by now. Good luck to you B-52T38! Good question, I bet there are a lot of members who could add to these thoughts... By the way, there is a T-38 Talon in private hands at the Van Nuys airport in California. Only privately owned T-38 that I'm aware of.
Mr. Smith,
I too have lost opportunities, I owned 20k shares of Sleep Comfort, purchased at .25 ps, currently 35 bucks. I sold at .68 because I was going to "beat the market" and play the dips and runs. Well, it ran alright, leaving me in the dust! Two years ago I almost sold half my position in CTSO to buy 15000 shares of EXAS which was also at 5 bucks at the time. I didn't because in my final analysis I figured a filter that saved lives had a much better chance of running to the moon than a lab that tested poop with several other companies doing the same thing. Today, EXAS is in the mid 90's after running up to 105 or so. In all my trades and many mistakes over the last 30-40 years of "investing", I have never blamed a CEO for my poor choices. Never. I own my poor choices, and I learn from them. If you really feel Dr. Chan is the reason you have lost money, especially after holding CTSO for 8 years, then you need to turn your account over to professionals. Personally, I think you are a short or being paid pennies for your negative commentary. If you are in fact long for 8 years, your opportunity to sell will arrive sometime in July or August, not long at all. Good luck to you, Mr. Smith...
supplier glitch, assume new machinery and training of personnel to operate it.
supplier glitch, assume new machinery and training of personnel to operate it.
Once again! A solid quarter. For all the naysayers, if there was a land mine along this path, it would have exploded a long time ago. There is only acceleration in front of us, and it will sooner or later, accelerate the pps. I think we will set a new pps record this year. What to do when it does... that's the question we should be discussing. This puppy is going to go, no doubt about it, sooner, or later?
Burnttoast.... How far can we range from approved uses to off label uses once we get any approvals from the FDA? Ive never heard of any limitations placed on drugs or devices for off label use, but because I haven't seen blow back from FDA doesn't mean it hasn't happened.
Bertha, Burnttoast, Techxen, There are several questions here that cry out for discussion regarding the potential of our filter as it fits into CAR-T therapy. Dr. Locke says, "We can manage high fevers, but when the CRS leads to low blood pressure or hypoxia, we’ve really gone too far. We have to halt the CRS before it gets to that." I have never heard Dr. Chan, Dr. June or anyone else connected to the corporate ladder mention the use of our filter in relation to CAR-t therapy other than they think it would fit nicely into the CRS solution. It has been two years now since CAR-t was introduced as a break through therapy. Do we have to be approved by the FDA in one way or another to be considered as a solution for complications to this therapy? We may now have a shot at the goal, although once again, not here. The Department of Hematology, Oncology and Rheumatology of Heidelberg University Hospital is the first German center to implement the certified “chimeric antigen receptor modified T-cells” (CAR T-cells) in the fight against two rare forms of leukemia (blood cancer) and lymphoma (lymph node cancer). Prof. Dr. Peter Dreger, Head of the Stem Cell Transplantation Unit at Heidelberg University Hospital, explains: “The CAR-T technology is a novel and highly effective therapy that uses genetic engineering techniques to modify the body’s own immune cells so they can recognize tumor cells and eliminate them in a targeted fashion.” Hopefully we will soon be hearing from Dr. Steiner or Dr. Chan regarding our filter and the treatment of CRS out of the University of Heidelberg.
Thanks for that link, Techxen. It appears the Italians are working to improve the process of approval universally throughout Italy. That will take time, in the mean time, we are seeing signs of Cytosorbents' acceptance as the results of its use spreads. Good things ahead.
Thanks, Bertha for the link to cost factoring regarding AKI. It appears there are two basic sets of patients, those who's treatment does not require dialysis and those more acute that do. The cost between the two groups is substantial. An obvious goal of Doctors and labs would be to identify the patients that are most likely to become acute, in need of dialysis, and treat that group with our Cytosorbents filter, early. I don't know of any research aimed specifically at this complication, however I'm sure the lab results would have pretty good indicators pointing to those that would best benefit from our treatment, and at the same time, saving a ton of money by keeping a lot of patients out of the CC wards and rehab.
Techxen, When our filter was originally priced, I believe it was about 500 per unit, US. Now, apparently as I understand the terms of this contract, Cytosorbents will receive $1000 per unit, minus any discounts afforded Aferetica, Aferetica will also receive $600 per unit from the hospital and topping it off, the hospital will be charged a 22% VAT payment to the government of Italy. This adds up to 1952 Euros, and at todays exchange rate that equals $2205.76 USD. Add to that the charge for the tubing to connect the patient to the pumping equipment, the pump and monitors necessary to move the blood thru the filter plus the technician to set it up and monitor the operation, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual cost to the patient doesn't exceed 4500-5000 per filter. Now I am beginning to understand why the filter is a bit slow to be adopted, especially if this is an average pricing of the cost of goods to the end users. Is the filter a good thing for the patient? Absolutely, but in most cases they are not the one who is footing the bill. The actual numbers have never been discussed. It would be interesting to see a break down of the true cost of a treatment with our filter. A very informative bit of information, Thank you, Techxen.
Typo on the date, should read June 19, 2018, my bad. Report should be required reading by all FDA employees and people thinking about investing in Cytosorbents.
Burnttoast, excellent report, easy read case studies, Cytosorbents, sepsis and meningitis, National Center of Biotechnology Information, Published June 19, 2016.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6029461/
Bertha, as time goes on the news and reports we are seeing seem to be becoming more positive and supportive of the advances of medicine. I hope I live to see the day that Cytosorb is recognized as one of the leaders in the development of immune systemic therapy, responsible for the eradication of sepsis and the damaging effects of many other infectious agents. Thanks for your ever constant vigilance and spreading the word...