CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that it has entered into
a collaborative agreement with France's national transfusion service,
the Etablissement Francais du Sang (EFS), for the development of the
company's INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells. Terms of the
agreement call for the EFS to co-invest by contributing its facilities,
personnel and resources in support of clinical and commercial product
development, validation, and both CE mark and French regulatory
approvals. In return, EFS has certain royalty rights on future product
revenue. The EFS plans to conduct the collaboration at four regional EFS
establishments in France, with candidate locations including Strasbourg,
Besancon, St-Etienne, Tours, Montpelier, and Marseille.
"Cerus welcomes this opportunity to collaborate with a leading national
transfusion service as we advance the INTERCEPT red blood cell program
into the European market," said Claes Glassell, president and CEO of
Cerus. "Our experience commercializing the INTERCEPT platelet and plasma
systems has shown us the value of working directly with our future
potential customers, such as EFS, to establish the safety, efficacy and
operational requirements of new pathogen inactivation technologies."
The EFS supplies blood components for metropolitan France as well as the
overseas departments of La Reunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyane.
Supporting the needs of over one million patients each year, EFS blood
centers annually produce approximately 260 thousand units of platelets,
370 thousand units of plasma and 2.3 million units of red blood cells
for transfusion. All plasma for transfusion in France is routinely
pathogen inactivated, and four regions have already implemented pathogen
inactivation of platelets.
"This is an important project for the EFS, building on our scientific
and research expertise to collaborate as a public establishment with
industry to advance blood safety in the world," said Gerard Tobelem,
president of the EFS. "This is an important step leading towards a
future where hopefully all labile blood components will be secured with
pathogen inactivation technologies."
Cerus has previously announced INTERCEPT red blood cell collaborations
with the German Red Cross in Frankfurt, Germany as well as Laboratories
Grifols of Spain. The red cell pre-clinical development program has
received support from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel
Command under contract number W81XWH-08-1-0480. Cerus recently announced
the successful conclusion of its Phase 1 red cell trial, clearing the
way for future development of the INTERCEPT red blood cell program.
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. See 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 the EFS'
participation in the collaboration and future use of pathogen
inactivation technologies for all blood components . Words such as
"will" 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 associated with early
termination of the collaboration agreement and commercial adoption of
pathogen inactivation technologies for all blood products, 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 September 30, 2009, filed with the SEC on
November 6, 2009. No pathogen inactivation system has been shown to
inactivate all pathogens. The views, opinions and/or findings contained
in this press release should not be construed as an official Department
of Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other
documentation. 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