CytoSorbents Corporation, 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 the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has granted CytoSorbents a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award valued at $281,835. The eight-month award (Award #1R43GM144973-01) will allow CytoSorbents to test the ability of its novel and existing polymers to remove cytokines and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin from septic porcine plasma. LPS endotoxin, released by Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, and Legionella, is a well-known potent and deadly trigger of sepsis and septic shock by activating the immune system and generating a cytokine storm that can lead to massive, uncontrolled systemic inflammation, organ failure, and potentially death.
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Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents stated, “Gram-negative infections play an important and feared role in sepsis, accounting for approximately 40% of cases of septic shock, and more than 30% of hospital-acquired infections. These patients tend to be very sick and have a high risk of death. We are the pioneer in the treatment of sepsis and septic shock by targeting cytokine storm and deadly inflammation with our European Union approved extracorporeal cytokine adsorber, CytoSorb®. But we believe the combination of extracorporeal cytokine and endotoxin removal from blood, in conjunction with antibiotics, may be an even more effective therapy for Gram-negative infections, and will help us to save more lives. We are grateful for the support from NIGMS to conduct the preliminary in vitro work needed before we evaluate our new polymers in a pig model of Gram-negative sepsis in the future.”
Goal is to advance new combined blood purification technologies to treat Gram negative sepsis – a deadly global killer
Sepsis is the overzealous immune response to an infection and is responsible for approximately one in every five deaths worldwide each year. This has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a “global health priority.” Sepsis accounts for approximately 10-20% of all intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, where patients either have sepsis when admitted to the ICU, or develop sepsis as a result of a nosocomial or hospital-acquired infection while in the ICU. Gram-negative infections commonly trigger septic shock, a serious complication of sepsis where the blood pressure drops to dangerously low levels and organ failure and death can ensue. Despite antibiotics and the best standard of care, septic shock still has a mortality of 35-50%.