Cerus Corporation (CERS)

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BARDA Contract announcement today:
CONCORD, Calif., Dec 19, 2016 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cerus Corporation CERS, -1.63% announced today that additional options totaling $10,825,555 have been exercised under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The newly exercised options include funding for in vitro pathogen inactivation and red blood cell (RBC) function studies to support FDA licensure, as well as the manufacturing of clinical trial materials needed for a Phase III trial in the continental United States.

“The exercise of these additional options reflects the substantial progress our team has made in just a few short months since initiating activities related to this important contract with BARDA,” said Dr. Laurence Corash, Cerus’ chief scientific officer. “We are working closely with the FDA to reach an agreement on the protocol design for our Phase III trial, and this additional funding ensures that we can begin preparing the necessary clinical trials materials to move forward quickly upon such agreement.”
And yet the stock price went down. Looking at the chart would suggest that shorty is pushing it down.