Cerus Announces Agreement to Supply the INTERCEPT Blood System for Platelets to French National Blood Service

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that it has signed
an initial two-year agreement with the French national blood service,
Etablissement Francais du Sang (EFS), for the INTERCEPT Blood System
for platelets. The terms of the agreement provide for INTERCEPT
equipment and disposable purchases of up to $8.0 million, with the
actual amounts determined by the rate of implementation in EFS
regional centers.

"We are pleased to complete our first formal agreement with EFS.
This multi-year contract provides the framework to extend use of the
INTERCEPT platelet system from four French regions currently using the
system, Alsace and three overseas regions, to broad national adoption
over time," said Claes Glassell, president and chief executive officer
of Cerus Corporation. "The INTERCEPT Blood System will allow France to
further improve the safety of platelet transfusions, decreasing the
risk from bacteria and emerging pathogens such as Chikungunya, avian
flu or West Nile virus."

By mandate of the French government, EFS is responsible for all
activities related to collection, preparation, qualification and
distribution to hospitals of labile blood product in France. EFS is
composed of 18 regional organizations (14 in continental France and
four overseas departments). More than 230,000 units of platelet
concentrates are transfused each year in France.

INTERCEPT Platelet System

The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets has received CE mark
approval and is produced to ISO quality standards. Platelets treated
with the INTERCEPT system have been approved by the Agence Franccaise
de Securite Sanitaire des Produits de Sante, the national health and
safety regulatory agency for medical products in France, and
characteristics of the treated platelets have been approved and
published in the Official Journal. Earlier this year, a German blood
center received the first marketing authorization for INTERCEPT
platelets from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the agency that regulates
blood components in Germany. Over 80,000 INTERCEPT platelet kits have
been shipped to date, and the system has been used clinically in over
40 European blood centers.

The INTERCEPT Blood System

The INTERCEPT Blood 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 intended for transfusion. The system
inactivates pathogens in platelets and plasma using the same
illumination device, process and active compound. The INTERCEPT Blood
System has received CE mark approvals in Europe for both the platelet
and plasma systems. A Phase I clinical trial of the INTERCEPT Blood
System for red cells has been completed in the United States.

ABOUT CERUS

Cerus Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and
commercializes novel, proprietary products in the fields of blood
safety and immunotherapy designed to provide safer, more effective
medical options to patients in areas of substantial unmet medical
needs. In the field of blood safety, the company is developing and
commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System, which is based on the
company's proprietary Helinx technology. The system is designed to
enhance the safety of donated blood components by inactivating
viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens, as well as
potentially harmful white blood cells. In the field of immunotherapy,
the company is employing its proprietary attenuated Listeria vaccine
platform to develop a series of novel therapies to treat cancer, and
it is applying its proprietary Killed But Metabolically Active
technology platform in the research and development of prophylactic
and therapeutic vaccines for infectious diseases.

INTERCEPT, INTERCEPT Blood System and Helinx are trademarks of
Cerus Corporation.