Cerus Signs INTERCEPT Platelet Agreements With Two Key Blood Component Suppliers in Germany and Austria

CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that the TILAK, University Clinics, Regional Hospital Innsbruck (LKI) in Austria and ZIT GmbH Hamburg in Germany, signed one and four year purchase agreements, respectively, for the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets.

“Considering the inherent limitations and increasing cost of the current testing strategies used for platelets, we believe the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets offers a strong value proposition that combines patient safety with commercial benefits”

LKI is one of the largest hospitals in Austria, with its Central Institute for Blood Transfusion supplying an estimated 6,000 platelet units annually to the federal state of Tyrol. LKI is the second facility in Austria to adopt INTERCEPT for platelets. Together with the General Hospital of Vienna (AKH), an estimated total of 12,000 platelet units, or 30% of the Austrian platelet market, could be treated with INTERCEPT. Implementation of the INTERCEPT platelet system at LKI is expected to start in March 2013.

ZIT Hamburg supplies roughly 10,000 platelet units annually and is the largest in-house blood component supplier to the Asklepios Group, one of the three largest operators of private hospitals in Germany. Implementation is expected to occur upon ZIT Hamburg’s receipt of regulatory approval from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut to produce INTERCEPT-treated platelets.

“Considering the inherent limitations and increasing cost of the current testing strategies used for platelets, we believe the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets offers a strong value proposition that combines patient safety with commercial benefits,” stated O. Schertges, CEO of the ZIT Hamburg.

“We believe the breadth of clinical and routine-use data for INTERCEPT platelets accumulated over the last 10 years may have positively influenced the decisions made by LKI and ZIT Hamburg,” said William ‘Obi’ Greenman, Cerus’ president and chief executive officer. “It is this clinical experience and hemovigilance data that led to FDA’s recent agreement to allow Cerus to proceed with a modular PMA submission for INTERCEPT platelets without the need to conduct another prospective clinical trial.”

ABOUT CERUS

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on enhancing blood safety. The INTERCEPT system is designed to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases by inactivating a broad range of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that may be present in donated blood. The nucleic acid targeting mechanism of action enables INTERCEPT treatment to inactivate established transfusion threats, such as hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile virus and bacteria, and is designed to inactivate emerging pathogens such as influenza, malaria and dengue. Cerus currently markets and sells the INTERCEPT Blood System for both platelets and plasma in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and selected countries in other regions around the world. In the United States, Cerus is seeking regulatory approval of the INTERCEPT Blood System for plasma, and is in the process of determining the application shell for a potential regulatory submission for the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is in clinical development. See http://www.cerus.com for more information.

INTERCEPT and the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.

Except for the historical statements contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Cerus’ products, prospects and results, including statements regarding the expected implementation schedules of the INTERCEPT platelet system at LKI and ZIT Hamburg. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, without limitation, risks associated with demand for the INTERCEPT Blood System, including the risk that purchases of the platelet system may be less than anticipated thereunder, risks relating to Cerus’ ability to meet its supply obligations, risks associated with Cerus’ ability to achieve broader market acceptance of its INTERCEPT Blood System products and risks associated with obtaining regulatory approvals, as well as other risks detailed in Cerus’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Cerus’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 filed with the SEC on November 8, 2012. Cerus disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.