CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

[pharmeng]

Revenue targets are really low now. so at this rate, can't really justify an increase in market cap through sales until sometime 2016...

I also don't see any impending data to move the stock. I'm still of the opinion that nothing that great will come out of the dosing study. Last update was 28 patients, total will be 50 patients, and at 28 patients, only positive conclusion was that it's safe. Mortality for >65yo was similar to control arm in prior study. This was also one of the sub-populations from the first trial that potentially had more benefit from cytosorb. Maybe there will be benefit again to patients with high cytokine level.

I had stayed invested in this b/c the clinical hypothesis sounded simple, since IL-6 is seen as one of the better biomarkers for mortality. Also, in CAR-T therapy, there are some cases that blocking IL-6 helps with managing CRS (cytokine release syndrome).

Maybe I was too hopeful b/c of my naive understanding of sepsis and its biomarkers, but at this point, 18 treated patients from first trial, plus 50 from dosing study should be showing some differences. I hope they release the data soon, or it is a bit suspect. Even really large trials with >1000 patients can release data in a few weeks after a study concludes.