CytoSorbents Awarded $2,897,172 Phase III STTR Contract to Advance HemoDefend-BGA Plasma and Whole Blood Filter to Clinical Trials

CytoSorbents Awarded $2,897,172 Phase

III STTR Contract to Advance HemoDefend-BGA Plasma and Whole Blood Filter to Clinical Trials

MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., June 9, 2020 -

CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSO), a critical care immunotherapy leader specializing in blood purification, announced today

that it was awarded a Defense Health Agency Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase III contract, valued at up to $2,897,172

over 2 years, to advance its HemoDefend-BGA plasma and whole blood adsorber to human clinical trials. The program, entitled "Development

of a Highly Efficient Adsorber to Remove Anti-A and Anti-B Antibodies from Blood and Plasma for Transfusion," is being funded

by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs

(CDMRP). This follows the successful completion of Phase I and II STTR contracts of approximately $1.15 million with researchers

at Penn State University, previously funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) and the U.S. Army

Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC).

Plasma and whole blood are life-saving

blood products, particularly in civilian and combat trauma where the loss of blood, or hemorrhage, is the leading cause of preventable

deaths. However, these products have limitations due to the presence of anti-A and anti-B antibodies in the blood plasma that can

cause hemolytic transfusion reactions in an incompatible recipient.

The HemoDefend-BGA filter is part of the

HemoDefend family of blood transfusion filters, and is fundamentally different from the HemoDefend-RBC filter for packed

red blood cells. The HemoDefend-BGA filter is designed to enable "universal plasma", or plasma that can be administered

to anyone regardless of blood type, and to improve the safety of whole blood transfusions, by the rapid and efficient removal of

anti-A and anti-B antibodies from these two blood products. An advanced HemoDefend-BGA prototype was developed previously under

the prior STTR Phase II program.

Dr. Maryann Gruda, PhD, Principal Investigator

and Director of Biology of CytoSorbents stated, "We are excited to take this next major step in the development of the HemoDefend-BGA

adsorber. A tremendous amount of effort and innovation has gone into the current prototype that has exceeded program performance

expectations. With this new funding, we plan to optimize our prototype and scale-up manufacturing to produce commercial-grade materials.

This will facilitate advancement of the HemoDefend-BGA adsorber through pre-clinical testing to human clinical trials, with the

goal of potential U.S. FDA regulatory approval. If successful, we expect the HemoDefend-BGA adsorber to expand the availability

of universal plasma and whole blood that may help to save warfighter and civilian lives."

Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief Executive

Officer of CytoSorbents stated, "The development of a simple device that efficiently reduces the level of anti-A and anti-B

antibodies in whole blood and plasma to low titer is a major milestone in our collaboration with the U.S. military. We are grateful

for U.S. Army support and proud to contribute to this important program. We plan to work aggressively to make this technology commercially

available as soon as possible."

the straw-colored, cell-free portion of whole blood. It contains a wide range of important substances such as electrolytes, hormones,

proteins such as albumin, clotting factors, and antibodies. The transfusion of plasma, or plasma-derived products, is used widely

to help save the lives of trauma and bleeding victims, septic and other critically-ill patients, and patients with life-threatening

blood coagulation and autoimmune disorders. In 2017, approximately 3.0 million units of plasma were distributed in the United

States alone. Most plasma contains blood-type specific antibodies and must be cross-matched for blood

type with the intended recipient ahead of time or risk serious transfusion reactions. The only "universal" plasma is

Type AB plasma, which lack anti-A and anti-B antibodies, but is rare, accounting for less than 5.0% of potential donors. By reducing

these blood-type specific antibodies from donated plasma of all blood types, the goal is to create a cost-effective, reliable,

and expanded source of "universal" plasma that can be administered immediately, without blood-typing, in a wide range

of emergent and non-emergent situations.

Many studies have demonstrated that whole

blood transfusion is superior in hemorrhage control and survival in severe trauma, compared to individual blood component transfusions

(e.g. pRBCs, platelets, plasma). In the military, in emergency or mass casualty situations when the demand for refrigerated blood

products has exceeded the supply inventory in the combat zone, the "Walking Blood Bank" program can be implemented,

where unwounded soldiers can donate their blood to those that have fallen. Type O whole blood is typically the universal donor

type, but since it is roughly 60% plasma, anti-A and anti-B antibodies can be present at various levels that can cause potentially

fatal hemolytic transfusion reactions in the recipient. Currently, the military relies on pre-screening and identification of low

titer Type O donors. By removing these antibodies from whole blood, HemoDefend-BGA may help to improve the safety of whole blood

transfusion across all blood types and make the logistics of treatment much easier.

The HemoDefend-BGA Adsorber is not yet

approved in the U.S. or elsewhere. This Award is supported by the Defense Health Agency STTR Program/U.S. Army Medical Research

and Development Command (USAMRDC)/Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) under Contract No. W81XWH-20-C-0050.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily

reflect the views of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) or the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition

About CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSO)

CytoSorbents Corporation is a leader

in critical care immunotherapy, specializing in blood purification. Its flagship product, CytoSorb is approved in the European

Union with distribution in 58 countries around the world, as an extracorporeal cytokine adsorber designed to reduce the "cytokine

storm" or "cytokine release syndrome" that could otherwise cause massive inflammation, organ failure and death in

common critical illnesses. These are conditions where the risk of death is extremely high, yet no effective treatments exist. CytoSorb

has been used in more than 88,000 human treatments to date. CytoSorb has received FDA Emergency Use Authorization in the United

States for use in critically-ill COVID-19 patients with imminent or confirmed respiratory failure, in defined circumstances. CytoSorb

has also been granted FDA Breakthrough Designation for the removal of ticagrelor in a cardiopulmonary bypass circuit during emergent

and urgent cardiothoracic surgery.

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

$33 million from DARPA, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health (NIH),

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Air Force Material Command (USAF/AFMC),

Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD), and others. The Company has numerous products under

development based upon this unique blood purification technology protected by many issued U.S. and international patents and multiple

applications pending, including CytoSorb-XL , HemoDefend , VetResQ , K+ontrol , ContrastSorb,

DrugSorb, and others. For more information, please visit the Company's websites at www.cytosorbents.com and www.cytosorb.com

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