Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with CSL Limited, Biotherapies division to distribute Cerus’ INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets in Australia and New Zealand. The INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to provide increased protection from a broad range of transfusion-transmitted pathogens, including bacteria and emerging pathogens such as the dengue and chikungunya viruses. Approximately 140,000 platelet units are collected annually in Australia and New Zealand.
Under terms of the agreement, CSL and Cerus will promote the sales, deployment and support of the INTERCEPT platelet system in Australia and New Zealand. Cerus expects that should the blood services plan to adopt the system, they will need to obtain approval for use of INTERCEPT treated platelets from their respective national regulatory authorities.
“We believe that CSL, as one of the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the world, is an ideal partner to bring INTERCEPT to these new markets,” said Claes Glassell, president and chief executive officer of Cerus Corporation. “CSL has a long history of supporting the safety of blood supply in both Australia and New Zealand.”
ABOUT CERUS
Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused on commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance 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 both 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, Russia, the Middle East and selected countries in other regions around the world. 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.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to regulatory agency approvals, the market potential for the INTERCEPT Blood System and customer acceptance of INTERCEPT products. Words such as “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the company’s current expectations. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, without limitation, risks related to whether the INTERCEPT products will receive regulatory approvals, risks associated with market acceptance of the INTERCEPT Blood System, as well as other risks detailed in the Cerus’ filings with, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including in Cerus’ quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, filed with the SEC on August 16, 2010. No pathogen inactivation system has been shown to inactivate all pathogens. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Cerus does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, changed assumptions or otherwise.
