MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., April 15, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoSorbents Corporation (OTCBB:CTSO), a critical care-focused company using blood purification to treat life-threatening illnesses in the intensive care unit, announced today that it has appointed Christopher Cramer, MS, MBA, as Vice President of Business Development.
Mr. Cramer brings more than 15 years of business development and commercial experience in the medical device field. Most recently, he was Senior Director of New Venture Development at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a manufacturer and multi-national distributor of pharmaceutical, medical devices, and consumer products with over $67 Billion in annual worldwide sales. He helped to create and manage J&J's portfolio of early stage ventures from inception to product launch, establishing new revenue streams for Johnson & Johnson. Chris was personally responsible for initiating and driving significant partnership deal flow, and has substantial experience in negotiating and establishing business development relationships across many commercial, non-profit, and government organizations. These deals encompassed a wide variety of structures, including distribution, promotion, co-development, licensing, merger and acquisitions, and equity investments. Prior to that, he was the Worldwide Strategic Marketing leader responsible for developing and executing branding and business development strategies for J&J's minimally invasive weight-loss surgery division. Prior to J&J, he held multiple leadership positions at PwC Consulting and Parametric Technology Corporation. Chris earned his BS degree from Miami University and MBA and MS degrees from Carnegie Mellon University.
Mr. Cramer commented, "I have seen hundreds of different technologies during my career. What is so compelling about CytoSorbents' technology is how flexible the platform is, and how many high value therapeutic applications it may address. I can easily envision numerous partnership opportunities for CytoSorb® alone. But I also believe the rest of the Company's development pipeline, including HemoDefend™, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, and several others that have not yet been publicly disclosed, offers the Company significant future growth opportunities as they are monetized. I am excited by the opportunity to join and leverage my expertise to help drive success of CytoSorbents at this pivotal time."
"We are very excited to welcome Chris to our management team. Chris is a seasoned and experienced senior business development executive with an impressive track record of success in the medical device industry. With a broad background in business development, product development, marketing, science, and strategic consulting, Chris is the ideal person to lead and accelerate our ongoing strategic partnership efforts," said Dr. Phillip Chan, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents. "In the past several years, we have significantly advanced two of the three major pillars of value for our Company - commercialization of CytoSorb®, and expanding our product pipeline. In bringing Chris on board, we have now definitively bolstered the third Company pillar – business development and strategic partnership capability – which is intended to drive synergy throughout our entire business."
About CytoSorbents Corporation and its Technology Pipeline
CytoSorbents Corporation is a critical care focused therapeutic device company that specializes in blood and biological fluid purification. Its purification technology is based on biocompatible, highly porous polymer beads that can actively remove toxic substances from blood and other bodily fluids by pore capture and adsorption. Some of the Company's products include:
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CytoSorb® - The Company's flagship product is approved and sold in the European Union as a safe and effective cytokine blood filter, with the goal of preventing or treating organ failure – the leading cause of death in the intensive care unit with no effective therapies - in life threatening illnesses such as sepsis, burn injury, trauma, lung injury, pancreatitis, and many others. A major unmet medical need, organ failure costs millions of lives, and billions of dollars each year. Development of the next generation of CytoSorb® is being partially funded by DARPA and the US Army.
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HemoDefend™ - Currently under advanced development, this technology is designed to remove non-infectious contaminants in blood transfusion products, such as free hemoglobin, cytokines, bioactive lipids, and antibodies, which significantly contribute to the millions of transfusion reactions and adverse outcomes, including death, each year from blood transfusions.
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ContrastSorb - A development-stage technology designed to rapidly remove intravenous (IV) imaging contrast from blood that could otherwise cause kidney failure, or contrast-induced nephropathy, in high risk patients undergoing the millions of interventional radiology procedures, such as cardiac catheterizations, and imaging CT scans with IV contrast each year.
- DrugSorb – Is a development-stage product designed to remove drugs, chemotherapy agents, and other chemicals from blood in drug overdose, high dose regional chemotherapy, chemical poisoning, and other applications.
Additional information is available on the Company's website: http://www.cytosorbents.com.
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. Forward-looking statements in this press release are not promises or guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. We caution you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein. Risk factors are detailed in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 3, 2013, which is available at http://www.sec.gov.