CytoSorb is a Novel Application of Tried and True Technology [View instapost]
I really question your integrity as a scientist. It sounds like you took everything Dr. Philip Chan said as entirely true. I also doubt your intentions as well. Before you start recommending this "great" company to others, can you confirm that you hold no financial interest in Cytosorb/Medasorb?
Chemistry and Clinical Medicine are not the same. There are thousands of drugs and gadgets that made scintific sense but never became commercially available because there were proven to be marginally effective in clinical trials or because they were found to have unexpected adverse effects.
Dr. Chan is a businessman with a medical degree. His goal in life is to make the company a success at any expense. Some of his forward looking statements have been unrealistically optimistic. I cannot blame him for them; if he truly realized the slim chance of this adsorption column getting accepted by medical community, he would have a lot of sleepless nights.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
Albatros,
Regarding your comments about the exclusion criteria, compare the criteria used by Cruz et al. in the Italian study published in JAMA (June17, 2009, vol 301: 2445) . I have to say they were much less strict than what MSBT has done with their study. Before you make your comments, please know the facts.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
Albatros,
So for less than a 1/2 million cases per year, I have to say the market is not that big.
I did not say the exclusion criteria should not exist. But for the ARDS patients in ICU settings, you are going to have many comorbidities and the study result will not have much meaning by excluding these patients. I happen to be a critical care specialist who has been in practice for 20 years.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
Dear Frank the Gerbil,
I don't know what kind of financial interest you have in MSBT but you seemed to be very high on the company.
I have followed the company for over a year and I am well aware of the Nov 13 update by Dr. Chan.
Before you criticize another investor, I hope you have a decency to have an objective view. Having said that, it might be difficult if you have no medical background.
Regarding Dr. Chan's credentials, he graduated from excellent schools and has trained at Beth Israel in Boston, but he is not an intensivist. He is board-certified in internal medicine but is not a critical-care/pulmonary specialist. He does not know how these people think and treat their sick patients.
As for the company's clinical trial in Germany, have you ever read the details of the study design? I have and I have several reasons to think that the study is doomed to failure. Although Dr. Chang has been talking about the high incidence of sepsis, this study has such a strict exclusion criteria that will make the result of the study (even if it is positive) hardly useful for most intensivists. The study excludes patients who suffer from congestive heart failure, advanced chronic kidney diseases, advanced liver diseases, and patients who are on immunosuppressive medications. That effectively rules out more than 50-60% of ICU patients. The study is also limited to patients who have ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) or ALI (acute lung injury) in the setting of sepsis--which even further reduce the patient population the machine can be used.
At times, it is as important to realize what is NOT being said. Dr. Chan reported that the data collected so far showed improved secondary and "exploratory" endpoints. If you ever read the study design, the primary outcome they were looking at was the IL-6 expression. If you are such a big believer in Dr. Chen, why don't you ask him what happened to the primary endpoint?
The concept Medasorb has been preaching is not really new. The Japanese has been at it for more than a decade. The fact that it has not been accepted worldwide yet should tell you that the idea may make sense but it is not a blockbuster concept.
CytoSorb is a Novel Application of Tried and True Technology [View instapost]
Chemistry and Clinical Medicine are not the same. There are thousands of drugs and gadgets that made scintific sense but never became commercially available because there were proven to be marginally effective in clinical trials or because they were found to have unexpected adverse effects.
Dr. Chan is a businessman with a medical degree. His goal in life is to make the company a success at any expense. Some of his forward looking statements have been unrealistically optimistic. I cannot blame him for them; if he truly realized the slim chance of this adsorption column getting accepted by medical community, he would have a lot of sleepless nights.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
When I realized how foolish all of you are to follow blindly the pumpers, I did not want to waste my time.
Good luck to you all...
Time is running out on MSBT.....
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
Regarding your comments about the exclusion criteria, compare the criteria used by Cruz et al. in the Italian study published in JAMA (June17, 2009, vol 301: 2445) .
I have to say they were much less strict than what MSBT has done with their study.
Before you make your comments, please know the facts.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
So for less than a 1/2 million cases per year, I have to say the market is not that big.
I did not say the exclusion criteria should not exist. But for the ARDS patients in ICU settings, you are going to have many comorbidities and the study result will not have much meaning by excluding these patients. I happen to be a critical care specialist who has been in practice for 20 years.
Email from Dr. Chan Provides Valuable Insight in to Cytosorb's Role in Combating "Cytokine Storm" [View instapost]
I don't know what kind of financial interest you have in MSBT but you seemed to be very high on the company.
I have followed the company for over a year and I am well aware of the Nov 13 update by Dr. Chan.
Before you criticize another investor, I hope you have a decency to have an objective view. Having said that, it might be difficult if you have no medical background.
Regarding Dr. Chan's credentials, he graduated from excellent schools and has trained at Beth Israel in Boston, but he is not an intensivist. He is board-certified in internal medicine but is not a critical-care/pulmonary specialist. He does not know how these people think and treat their sick patients.
As for the company's clinical trial in Germany, have you ever read the details of the study design? I have and I have several reasons to think that the study is doomed to failure. Although Dr. Chang has been talking about the high incidence of sepsis, this study has such a strict exclusion criteria that will make the result of the study (even if it is positive) hardly useful for most intensivists. The study excludes patients who suffer from congestive heart failure, advanced chronic kidney diseases, advanced liver diseases, and patients who are on immunosuppressive medications. That effectively rules out more than 50-60% of ICU patients. The study is also limited to patients who have ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) or ALI (acute lung injury) in the setting of sepsis--which even further reduce the patient population the machine can be used.
At times, it is as important to realize what is NOT being said. Dr. Chan reported that the data collected so far showed improved secondary and "exploratory" endpoints. If you ever read the study design, the primary outcome they were looking at was the IL-6 expression. If you are such a big believer in Dr. Chen, why don't you ask him what happened to the primary endpoint?
The concept Medasorb has been preaching is not really new. The Japanese has been at it for more than a decade. The fact that it has not been accepted worldwide yet should tell you that the idea may make sense but it is not a blockbuster concept.
Thom