Cerus to acquire BioOne's commercialization rights for INTERCEPT Blood System

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.

“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”

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.