Cerus Strengthens European Management Team

William ''Obi'' Greenman Promoted to President, Cerus Europe

CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2006--Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) announced today the promotion of William "Obi" Greenman to the newly created position of President, Cerus Europe, reporting to Claes Glassell, President and Chief Executive Officer. Currently, Mr. Greenman serves as Cerus' Vice-President, Business Development.

Effective immediately, Mr. Greenman will be responsible for directing the European commercialization efforts for Cerus' lead product, the INTERCEPT Blood System. The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets is currently on the market in Europe and the INTERCEPT Blood System for plasma is currently pending review for CE mark approval.

"I am delighted that Obi has accepted this promotion," said Claes Glassell, President and CEO of Cerus. "We are encouraged by the progress of our commercialization of the INTERCEPT Blood System in Europe, and Obi will add to the existing breadth of leadership in our European headquarters."

Mr. Greenman will be leading a strong executive team that includes Caspar Hogeboom, INTERCEPT Managing Director Cerus Europe and by Keith Henderson, Vice-President, Manufacturing and Operations, both of whom were appointed in March of 2006.

Mr. Greenman has an extensive experience base at Cerus, having led business development, marketing and strategic planning activities for more than a decade. In his role as VP of Business Development, Mr. Greenman has been a key member of Cerus' management team. He led the restructuring of the company's relationship with Baxter International, structured the relationships with both BioOne and MedImmune and was instrumental in establishing the Cerus European headquarters and staffing the European organization. Prior to joining Cerus in 1995, Mr. Greenman served in various corporate development and marketing capacities for the Baxter Biotech Group, the biotech division of Baxter International.

Mr. Greenman holds degrees in Biological Sciences and Economics from Stanford University.

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.

CONTACT:

Cerus Corporation

Myesha Edwards,

925-288-6017