Cerus placement raises $78 million

Cerus Corp says it has completed the sale of 1 million newly-issuedshares of common stock to an institutional investor, priced at $52 each. Morgan Stanley served as the placement agent. In a separate deal, Baxter International and Subsidiaries Pension Trust have purchased 500,000 Cerus shares at the same price.

Cerus expects to use the net proceeds from the financings to support its late-stage clinical trials and for pre-commercialization activities. Stephen Isaacs, the firm's chief executive, said that the transaction is timely "as we progress further with late-stage product development and prepare for potential commercialization of the Intercept Blood Systems," which are in the latest stages of clinical development.