MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., Sept. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CytoSorbents Corporation (OTCBB: CTSO), a critical care focused company using blood purification to treat life-threatening illnesses such as sepsis, trauma, and burn injury, announced that, after a competitive process, the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command has selected the Company's Phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) proposal for funding. This follows the successful completion of a previously funded $100,000 Phase I US Army SBIR award. The current one year program is valued up to $1 million, with an additional option for a $50,000 Phase I extension, and is contingent upon finalizing the award contract, continued availability of federal funding, and achievement of certain milestones. The Phase II SBIR award is a pre-requisite to apply for a Phase III SBIR award that would help to fund and accelerate human clinical testing in the area of burn injury and/or trauma.

Dr. Phillip Chan, Chief Executive Officer, stated "We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our collaboration with the US Army, and have now also garnered interest from the US Air Force. As part of this Phase II SBIR program, we have expanded the scope of the project to evaluate the use of CytoSorb® and newly developed technologies to treat both trauma and burn and smoke inhalation injury in large animal models. These potentially life-threatening conditions are some of the most common injuries across all branches of the military as well as the general population. They involve a massive whole body inflammatory response that puts the patient at high risk of developing serious complications such as lung injury, kidney failure, other organ dysfunction, infection and death. Existing therapies are predominantly supportive care, and do little to prevent or treat these dangerous complications. CytoSorb®, and other products built around our blood purification platform technology, are well-suited to address these issues directly and may hopefully play a significant role in improving clinical outcome for our warfighters and civilians in the future."