Cerus and LifeShare Blood Centers Enter into Agreement for the Use of INTERCEPT Platelets and Plasma

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today that LifeShare Blood Centers has signed a purchase agreement for the INTERCEPT Blood System, a pathogen reduction technology, for platelets and plasma. LifeShare Blood Centers supplies approximately 16,000 platelet and 79,000 plasma units for patient transfusion annually as the sole provider of blood products to more than 100 medical facilities throughout Louisiana, East Texas, and Southern Arkansas.

LifeShare’s Executive Management team stated that their number one priority is to ensure the safety of their blood supply. By incorporating the INTERCEPT Blood System into their operations, pathogen reduction will provide an added layer of protection against potentially harmful pathogens and has the potential to increase availability and utilization of platelets.

Founded in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1942, LifeShare is a nonprofit community blood center providing quality blood products and related service for use by patients. LifeShare is a member of America’s Blood Centers and the American Rare Donor Program, is licensed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, and accredited by AABB.

ABOUT CERUS

Cerus Corporation is a biomedical products company focused in the field of blood transfusion safety. The INTERCEPT Blood System is designed to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections 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 of the INTERCEPT treatment is designed to inactivate established transfusion threats, such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV, West Nile Virus and bacteria, as well as emerging pathogens such as chikungunya, malaria and dengue. Cerus currently markets and sells the INTERCEPT Blood System for both platelets and plasma in the United States, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and selected countries in other regions around the world. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is in clinical development. See www.cerus.com for information about Cerus.

INTERCEPT and INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.

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