 CytoSorbents Corporation NASDAQ: CTSO, a critical care immunotherapy leader specializing in blood purification, announced today that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, endorsed by the Department of Defense office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs CDMRP, has awarded the Company a three-year contract valued at up to 4,421,487 as part of a Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program TechnologyTherapeutic Development Award to complete preclinical development of the HemoDefendTM-BGA plasma and whole blood adsorber. 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. 