Cerus to Consolidate Worldwide Commercial Rights to INTERCEPT
Platelets, Plasma and Red Blood Cells
CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) announced today that it has signed an
agreement to acquire BioOne Corporation's commercialization rights for
the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma, subject to approval
of the transaction by BioOne's shareholders. In 2004 and 2005, Cerus and
its partner at the time, Baxter International, licensed the
commercialization rights for INTERCEPT platelets and plasma to BioOne
for an Asian territory, which included China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore,
Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Cerus holds the commercialization rights
for the INTERCEPT red blood cell system for this region.
Under terms of the agreement, BioOne will receive approximately
1,170,000 shares of Cerus' common stock valued at approximately $3.08
per share, and Cerus will relinquish its equity interest in BioOne.
"We believe there is great market potential for INTERCEPT in Asia and
that regaining the platelet and plasma rights from BioOne will allow us
to pursue a different business strategy and potential partnerships for
all three programs," said Claes Glassell, Cerus' president and chief
executive officer.
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 allows
INTERCEPT treatment to inactivate both established transfusion threats,
such as hepatitis, HIV, West Nile virus and bacteria, as well as
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. Visit http://www.cerus.com
for more information.
INTERCEPT and 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 approval of the
agreement by BioOne shareholders, the market potential for the INTERCEPT
Blood System in Asia and to the pursuit of new strategies and
partnerships for the INTERCEPT Blood System. 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 agreement will be
approved by BioOne shareholders, risks associated with the
commercialization and 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 March 31, 2010, filed with the
SEC on May 12, 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.
Source: Cerus Corporation