Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ:CERS) has an FDA and EU approved device that inactivates pathogens such as viruses and bacteria in donated blood. Current regulatory approvals cover use of the Cerus device for platelets and plasma from donated blood (an $800 million worldwide, and $350 million U.S. market opportunity, for which Cerus has signed up over 80% of all U.S. blood centers). If additional approvals for usage with red blood cell (RBC) components are obtained, Cerus will add an estimated $2.5 billion in market opportunity ($1 billion in the U.S., in the same blood centers), for which there is no current competition. Shares slipped in the fourth quarter as the company slightly extended its timeline (by what we estimate might be one to two quarters) to get the RBC product to market. We believe Cerus is targeting EU approval for RBC in early 2018, and we believe that U.S. approval could be obtained for RBC in 2019. We believe growth prospects for Cerus are significant for 2017 and beyond.
From Baron Discovery Fund's fourth quarter 2016 commentary.
