CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that Chrystal Menard has
been appointed chief legal officer, effective December 3, 2012.
“Chrystal is an ideal choice to succeed Howard Ervin as chief legal
officer as we look forward to building on the commercial success of the
INTERCEPT Blood System," said William 'Obi' Greenman, Cerus' president
and CEO. "She has an in-depth knowledge of both Cerus and INTERCEPT,
gained during the years she acted as outside counsel to the company. She
also brings substantial experience in representing companies in the life
science and medical products industry."
Ms. Menard was a partner at Cooley LLP, where she had practiced
corporate and securities law from 2000 to 2011. Prior to joining Cerus,
Ms. Menard served as senior corporate counsel at Zynga, Inc., where she
had been since August 2011. Ms. Menard received her Juris Doctorate from
the University of Chicago and her Bachelor of Science in finance and
accounting from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Ms. Menard succeeds Howard Ervin, who will be retiring from his
full-time leadership role, but will continue to provide legal support
and continuity in a part-time role as vice president, legal affairs.
“We greatly appreciate Howard’s continued service to Cerus, and expect a
smooth transition within the legal department,” said Mr.
Greenman. “Howard has guided Cerus in the legal area since the company's
founding in 1991, and his contributions have been instrumental in
achieving our success."
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 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 Cerus’
expectations regarding the transition in leadership and the commercial
success of the INTERCEPT Blood System. 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 our ability to effect a smooth management transition,
the success of clinical trials, sufficiency of capital resources and
commercial adoption of INTERCEPT pathogen inactivation technology, 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 year ended June 30, 2012, filed with the SEC on August
8, 2012. 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