CytoSorbents Corporation announced the appointment of Thomas Shannon as Vice President of Marketing for North America. With anticipated marketing approval, Shannon will lead the marketing strategy and execution for DrugSorb™-ATR in the US and Canada.

"We are thrilled to welcome Tom to the CytoSorbents team as we prepare for the potential launch of DrugSorb-ATR in the U.S. and Canada," stated Dr. Phillip Chan, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents. "Tom brings outstanding leadership and a proven track record of commercial success in introducing groundbreaking cardiovascular and critical care technologies to stakeholders across the U.S. and globally. His expertise will be invaluable in driving the successful commercialization of DrugSorb-ATR, as we work to reduce the risk of serious perioperative bleeding in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery while on the blood thinner Brilinta®."

Shannon is a global strategic marketing executive who brings over 25 years of experience commercializing life-saving technologies for high growth cardiovascular surgery and extracorporeal therapy-focused medical device companies.

Previously, Shannon served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Genesee Biomedical, an innovator in cardiac heart valve repair, and Director of Marketing at Fresenius Medical Care, where he established their Heart and Lung Acute Care division and launched the first ever FDA-cleared long-term extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support device. At Getinge (formerly Maquet), Shannon commercialized 20 new products across the Americas, including the successful launch of the market-leading CardioHelp® ECMO platform, managed a USD 450 million cardiac and vascular surgery portfolio, and consistently delivered double digit growth year-over-year.

During his tenure at Medtronic, Tom led initiatives in sales, therapy development and marketing, and product launches including anti-coagulation monitoring devices, blood pumps, and autotransfusion technologies. Earlier in his career, Tom spent 17 years as a healthcare practitioner, including 12 years as a cardiovascular perfusionist, supporting complex cardiothoracic surgeries.

"I have had the good fortune to help lead the launch and commercialization of some major innovations in critical care and cardiac surgery during my career," commented Tom Shannon. "Of them all, I am impressed by the straight-forward and compelling value proposition that DrugSorb-ATR can represent for patients, surgeons, and hospital systems. In particular, intraoperative and postoperative bleeding in CABG patients due to blood thinning medications such as Brilinta® is a major problem for cardiac surgeons that only continues to get worse. As a former cardiovascular perfusionist, I cannot overstate the importance of intraoperative stability and low bleeding to the cardiovascular surgeon and surgical team. They want a smooth operation without complications. I am excited to have this new opportunity to collaborate closely with the dedicated and passionate team at CytoSorbents to ensure that patients have access to this innovative breakthrough technology."