CytoSorbents Announces Health Canada Regulatory Approval For Pivotal STAR-T Trial

PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 23, 2023 /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 that it has received regulatory approval from Health Canada allowing inclusion of Canadian sites into the pivotal Safe and Timely Antithrombotic Removal – Ticagrelor (STAR-T) randomized, controlled trial.

Richard Whitlock, M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC, Professor of Surgery at McMaster University Medical School and the Population Health Research Institute, Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery and Canada Principal Investigator for the STAR-T trial stated, "Canadian cardiac surgery centers are excited to join the STAR-T trial.  Ticagrelor is a potent antiplatelet agent with strong evidence of clinical benefit in acute coronary syndromes and is commonly used in the Canadian system.  However, managing patients on ticagrelor when they need urgent cardiac surgery is challenging because of the increased bleeding risk.  STAR-T will provide definitive evidence whether the DrugSorb-ATR system can effectively remove ticagrelor during surgery and improve clinical outcomes by reducing bleeding.  The Population Health Research Institute has successfully completed several of the largest randomized trials in cardiac surgery and will coordinate the STAR-T trial in several of their most successful collaborating sites in Canada.  These centers will provide high volume recruitment with high quality data to help answer this important question in a timely manner.  Canada is excited to begin recruitment in the pivotal STAR-T trial."

Dr. Efthymios N. Deliargyris, Chief Medical Officer of CytoSorbents commented, "We are very pleased to receive regulatory approval to expand STAR-T into Canada and are now working closely with our partners at the Population Health Research Institute to onboard up to 7 Canadian sites as soon as possible.  We anticipate these high performing sites will contribute meaningfully to study enrollment and help us execute on our stated goals of reaching the next milestones of 80 enrolled patients this Spring and full enrollment of 120 patients by Summer 2023."

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 September 30, 2022, more than 186,000 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 is currently conducting the FDA-approved, randomized, controlled STAR-T (Safe and Timely Antithrombotic Removal-Ticagrelor) study of 120 patients at approximately 30 centers in U.S. and Canada to evaluate whether intraoperative use of DrugSorb-ATR can reduce the perioperative risk of bleeding in patients receiving ticagrelor and undergoing cardiothoracic surgery.  This pivotal study is intended to support FDA and Health Canada marketing approval in the United States and Canada, respectively, for DrugSorb-ATR in this application. 

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.

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CytoSorbents Contact: 
Kathleen Bloch
(732) 398-5429
kbloch@cytosorbents.com

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