Cerus Appoints Chrystal Menard as Chief Legal Officer

Cerus Appoints Chrystal Menard as Chief Legal Officer

CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cerus Corporation (NAS: 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 smoothtransition 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.

Cerus Corporation
Lainie Corten, 925-288-6319
Sr Director, Global Marketing & Investor Relations

KEYWORDS: United States North America California

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