Biotech major Biocon has tied up with CytoSorbents, USA, to bring in a novel therapy to India for sepsis treatment. The deal was inked to mark World Sepsis Day on September 13.

The partnership will have Biocon holding the exclusive commercialisation rights for the drug. The blood purification device is designed to target the prevention of organ failure, which is the cause of nearly half of the deaths in the intensive care unit.

Severe sepsis and septic shock are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Over a third of patients who develop sepsis die globally, even though the best treatment is available.

In India, more than one million estimated new cases of severe sepsis are treated in the ICU each year, accounting for one out of every four patients in the ICU.

The company says the device manages the cytokine storm in critically ill patients. Very high levels of cytokines are known to cause multiple organ failure.

In a statement, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson of Biocon, said: "The deal will enable us to address the huge unmet need of sepsis management in India and emerging markets.''

Meanwhile, CytoSorbents, which is a critical care focused company specialising in blood purification, has also recently inked a deal with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

The latter has awarded the company a research contract for its blood purification technology. The overall goal of the new programme is to reduce the risk of potential side effects of blood transfusion.

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