Dear Shareholders,
As we move through the second quarter of the year, I am happy to greet you with optimism and excitement for Cerus’ future, both for the duration of 2024 as well as the years to come. We are proud that an ever-increasing proportion of the global blood supply relies on the INTERCEPT Blood System for pathogen inactivation (PI), and we recognize the obligation we hold to our customers and communities in this regard. This serves to motivate the Cerus team each and every day, and we are committed to a customer-centric approach to our business and mission. Partnering with our blood center customers in their essential work to ensure the availability of safe blood products for their hospital customers is core to how we operate as a company.
Targeting Financial Stability & Sustainability
While 2023 had its fair share of challenges for Cerus, we addressed them head on, enabling progress on a variety of fronts. In fact, we ended the year on a high note, as we narrowed GAAP net loss attributable to Cerus Corporation for the fourth quarter of 2023 and achieved our goal of non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the fourth quarter of 2023. Looking ahead for this year, we are focused on improving upon the adjusted EBITDA metric, critical to allowing us to self-fund our growth and development programs as needed.
Executing on Our Commercial Goals
For 2024, we are focused on returning to double-digit product revenue growth, both through our core business with INTERCEPT Platelets and Plasma as well as our newest U.S. product, INTERCEPT Fibrinogen Complex (IFC). We expect both the U.S. and international markets to contribute to growth in the core business, as existing U.S. blood center customers grow their utilization of INTERCEPT Platelets and new geographies enter the mix, including the near-term completion of Canadian Blood Services’ conversion to 100% INTERCEPT Platelets. Our capacity to deliver double-digit growth relies on our ability to supply our customers with the products they need, a high priority for our team. Indeed, in 2023, we received EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) certification for the INTERCEPT Platelet and Plasma systems, and we also advanced development efforts on our new LED illuminator, which we believe is important for both moving the INTERCEPT Platelet and Plasma systems into the future as well as delivering innovation to our blood center customers. For IFC, we anticipate that utilization of this new product will grow across all settings of hemorrhage, including trauma, surgery, and obstetrics. The increasing number of case studies at major academic hospitals documenting the utility of IFC in reducing time to transfusion as well as blood component wastage is driving adoption and interest in the product nationally.
Closing in on the Future
As we look at the evolving healthcare landscape globally, it is evident that the need to safeguard the blood supply is as – if not more – important than ever. As INTERCEPT has become the standard of care for the platelet supply in countries like France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, U.S., and Canada, the need to expand PI to red blood cells (RBCs), the most commonly transfused blood component, has become more evident. This has made it all the more meaningful, therefore, that we recently reported meeting the primary endpoint of ReCePI, our first of two U.S. Phase 3 clinical trials for INTERCEPT RBCs. We continue to advance this clinical program and also await a potential CE Mark approval decision on INTERCEPT RBCs in the EU. Through these efforts, we hope to expand the partnerships with our customers to provide them with a comprehensive strategy across all major blood components for transfusion and a definitive safeguard in the face of possible future pandemic threats.
The Customer as Our Mission
Functional healthcare systems rely on a secure blood supply, and we recognize the role that Cerus plays in this equation. We work hand in hand with our customers, innovating, implementing, designing, and advancing the science of transfusion medicine, as we remain committed to our mission to establish INTERCEPT as the standard of care for transfused blood components globally and enable our customers to do everything in their power to deliver safe and effective blood products to patients.
On behalf of the entire Cerus team, I thank you for your continued interest and support in our efforts.
Sincerely,
William “Obi” Greenman
President and Chief Executive Officer
April 26, 2024