Terumo partners with CytoSorbents to commercialize blood purification tech

Terumo and blood purification company CytoSorbents have joined forces in a multicountry partnership to commercialize the latter’s blood purification absorber for critically ill and cardiac surgery patients. Financial details were not disclosed.

CytoSorbents’ device, dubbed CytoSorb, is an extracorporeal cytokine absorber approved in the EU. Blood is pumped out of the body and through the CytoSorb cartridge, which contains porous polymer beads that absorb cytokines. The “purified” blood is then recirculated back to the patient, according to the company.

The device’s indication spans any clinical situation where a patient’s cytokine levels are elevated, according to the company. These situations include trauma, serious burns, severe lung injury and sepsis and infection. The immune system releases cytokines in response to life-threatening conditions, but an excess of cytokines can cause cell damage, organ failure and death.

Under the agreement, Terumo will gain exclusive rights to distribute the CytoSorb cardiopulmonary bypass procedure pack for use during cardiac surgery in France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, according to a statement. How this partnership pans out would provide the foundation for future expansion into other markets, including Japan, said Chris Cramer, CytoSorbents' vice president of business development, in the statement. CytoSorbents has previously teamed up with dialysis leader Fresenius Medical Care to commercialize the CytoSorb.

"Our collaboration with CytoSorbents enables us to offer this innovative, easy-to-use blood purification therapy to address our customers' most challenging cardiac cases," said Arik Anderson, president of Terumo’s Perfusion and Surgical Devices division, in the statement. "CytoSorb integrates with the heart-lung machine platform, giving surgical teams, for the first time, the ability to safely reduce dangerous inflammatory mediators in real-time as they are being generated during cardiac surgery."