Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) announced today that it has commenced a registered underwritten public offering of $50.0 million of its common stock. In addition, Cerus expects to grant the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $7.5 million of its common stock. All of the shares to be sold in the offering are to be sold by Cerus.

BTIG, LLC is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering.