Cerus and OneBlood Enter into Agreement for the Use of INTERCEPT Platelets and Plasma

Cerus Corporation CERS announced today that OneBlood, Inc. has signed a multi-year purchase agreement for the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma. The INTERCEPT System reduces the risk of transfusion-transmitted infection in platelet and plasma components by inactivating a broad spectrum of viruses, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, spirochetes, parasites and leukocytes. "Safety of the blood supply is OneBlood's top priority," said Don Doddridge, President and Chief Executive Officer of OneBlood. "The INTERCEPT pathogen reduction system provides an additional layer of safety to our existing testing processes and enables us to deploy cutting-edge pathogen reduction technology to further ensure safe blood for our hospital partners and their patients," said Doddridge. OneBlood distributes approximately one million blood products to more than 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout most of Florida, parts of Southern Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. "In a time when new and emerging pathogens such as chikungunya and dengue fever are starting to appear in the United States, the INTERCEPT system enables OneBlood to take a proactive approach in supplying their hospitals with pathogen-reduced platelets