Cerus Corporation Enters Purchasing Agreement with Blood Centers of America

Cerus Corporation announced that it has entered into a group purchasing agreement with Blood Centers of America, the largest blood supply cooperative in the U.S. BCA member blood centers produce approximately half of the U.S. platelet and cryoprecipitate supply. The agreement covers Cerus' entire INTERCEPT product line. Under this agreement, Cerus will partner with BCA to drive expanded access to pathogen reduction technology for platelets, plasma and pathogen reduced cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex, commonly referred to as INTERCEPT Fibrinogen Complex, or IFC, across their blood center membership. "We are excited to partner with BCA and the 60+ independent community blood centers they represent. This agreement demonstrates our shared commitment to drive innovation and expand access to safer blood products," said Vivek Jayaraman, Cerus' chief operating officer. "We believe leveraging BCA's resource sharing model will enable us to rapidly expand IFC adoption. Furthermore, this agreement provides access to pathogen-reduced platelets for new customers at both the blood center and hospital. I believe this agreement has the potential to be quite positive for BCA, their blood center membership and Cerus." Under the terms of the agreement, ongoing production of IFC at BCA member blood centers will move under a resource-sharing model. This structure is designed to facilitate easier access to, and distribution of IFC across all BCA member blood centers and to their hospital customers. Through collaborative training and education initiatives, Cerus and BCA believe these efforts will expand awareness and adoption of pathogen reduction technologies.