CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

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From the April 24 Shareholder Newsletter.
Before I conclude, I should comment on the potential use of CytoSorb® as a rescue therapy for "cytokine release syndrome", or CRS, that can lead to cytokine storm in activated T-cell immunotherapy cancer treatments. This is one of the most promising and exciting areas of cancer research where a patient's own white blood cells (T-cells) are engineered to recognize and kill cancer cells. This is a strategy being pursued by major corporate and university alliances such as Novartis/University of Pennsylvania, Juno Therapeutics/Memorial Sloan Kettering/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center/Seattle Children's Research Institute, Celgene/Bluebird Bio, Kite Pharma/National Cancer Institute, GlaxoSmithKline/Adaptimmune, Merck KGaA/Intrexon/MD Anderson, and Pfizer/Cellectis. In a number of studies, the use of activated T-cells has led to the "cure" or remission of many refractory leukemias and other cancers. Common to all of these activated T-cell therapies is the potent stimulation of the inflammatory response, leading to an expected extended "flu-like" syndrome in patients, characterized by high levels of cytokines. However, CRS can spiral out of control, despite the use of tocilizumab and other prophylactic measures, leading rapidly to multiple organ failure and often death. CRS is exactly what CytoSorb® was designed to control and we believe that CytoSorb® represents a potentially unique rescue therapy to treat immune overstimulation in T-cell immunotherapy. While we are still in the beginning phases of exploring this new opportunity, CytoSorbents already has several initiatives underway.