Cerus Corporation Announces Significant Presence at International Blood Safety Conference; INTERCEPT Pathogen Inactivation System the Subject of 20 Scientific Presentations and a Satellite Symposium Featuring Prominent World Blood Safety Experts.

CONCORD, Calif. -- Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) today announced that the company's INTERCEPT Blood System will be featured at the annual congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) being held in Cape Town, South Africa, from September 2nd through 7th.

The INTERCEPT Blood System will be highlighted in 20 abstracts and presentations, including two oral presentations and five reports by independently sponsored outside investigators, as well as during a special satellite symposium session on September 5th. Data relating to the routine use, safety and efficacy of Cerus' INTERCEPT platelet system will be presented, along with data on the plasma and red blood cell systems. The INTERCEPT platelet and plasma systems are the first to inactivate pathogens in donated blood components using a common platform. The platelet system has received CE mark approval and is being marketed and sold in Europe. In late 2005 Cerus submitted a CE mark application for approval to market the plasma system in Europe.

"We're pleased that Cerus will have a significant presence at the ISBT congress, a key international blood safety and transfusion medicine meeting," said Claes Glassell, president and CEO of Cerus. "The depth and quality of the data being presented demonstrate the advantages that INTERCEPT brings to the safe supply of blood components."

Cerus' two oral presentations at the conference will both take place on September 7th. The first will discuss how the INTERCEPT red blood cell system inactivates bacterial and viral pathogens. The second will deal with the rapid and effective deployment of INTERCEPT platelet system during a recent epidemic on the French island of La Reunion of the Chikungunya virus, for which no traditional blood test is available. INTERCEPT's role in enabling safe supply of platelets during that public health emergency will also be discussed by Professor Jean-Pierre Cazenave during the September 5th symposium.

Poster presentations featuring the INTERCEPT system will take place on September 4th and 6th. Topics range from the INTERCEPT system's prospective value in preventing transfusion transmission of emerging pathogens during outbreaks to the safety of INTERCEPT-treated platelets in routine use.

Studies on the INTERCEPT system's inactivation of emerging pathogens include inactivation of an emerging West Nile Virus strain in South France (Abstract P-367) and the INTERCEPT system's ability to inactivate Trypanosome cruzi, or Chagas disease, which has been transmitted via platelet transfusions in at least six cases in the United States and Canada (Abstract P-368).

Investigators from the Gent blood transfusion center and University Hospital of Gent, Belgium (Abstract P-369), as well as from the St. Anna Children's Hospital and the University of Vienna, Austria (Abstracts P-372 and P-380), will present data on the safety and efficacy of INTERCEPT platelet transfusions in immunocompromised children.

Other INTERCEPT Blood System highlights at the conference include an analysis comparing the use of the INTERCEPT platelet system to bacterial testing in routine blood bank operations (Abstract P-377); further insight into preparing red blood cells for pathogen inactivation (Abstracts P-238 and P-307); and processes, storage and operational impact of using the INTERCEPT system in treating platelets and plasma (various abstracts). For the complete abstracts and presentation schedule please visit www.cerus.com. Full text of the abstracts can be accessed at http://isbt-web.org/capetown.

ABOUT CERUS

Cerus Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes novel, proprietary products in the fields of blood safety and immunotherapy to provide safer, more effective medical options to patients in areas of substantial unmet medical needs. In the field of immunotherapy, the company is employing its proprietary attenuated Listeria vaccine platform to develop a series of novel therapies to treat cancer, and it is applying its proprietary Killed But Metabolically Active technology platform in research and development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for infectious diseases. In the field of blood safety, the company is developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System, which is based on the company's proprietary Helinx technology and is designed to enhance the safety of donated blood components by inactivating viruses, bacteria, parasites and other pathogens, as well as potentially harmful white blood cells. INTERCEPT, INTERCEPT Blood System and Helinx are trademarks of Cerus Corporation.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains, in addition to historical information, certain "forward-looking statements" regarding the safety and efficacy of Cerus' INTERCEPT platelet pathogen inactivation system. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from such current expectations. Actual results could differ materially from the above forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks and uncertainties related to actions by regulatory authorities and other government authorities, including the FDA and foreign counterparts, at any stage of the development, marketing or commercialization process, the initiation, timing and results of clinical trials and other development activities, the acceptability of any data by regulatory authorities, technological advances in the medical field, additional financing activities, and other factors discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, changed assumptions or otherwise; all forward-looking statements speak only as of the time when made.