PhotoThera closes $50 million financing

01 May 2009

CARLSBAD, CA, 30 April 2009 – PhotoThera, Inc., the developer of transcranial laser therapy (TLT) designed for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke within 24 hours of stroke onset, announced today that it has closed a $50 million Series D round of financing led by Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm, to fund a planned follow-on phase III 'NEST-3' (NeuroThera(R) Effectiveness and Safety Trial) clinical study. The Company previously announced that NEST-3 would build upon the results of its NEST-2 trial, which revealed a statistically significant treatment effect for patients with moderate to moderately severe ischemic strokes using a post-hoc data analysis.

In addition to Warburg Pincus, participating investors include The Vertical Group L.P., Hamilton BioVentures, Delphi Ventures, DeNovo Ventures, and certain individual members of Monterey Advisors, Inc.

PhotoThera also announced that Arthur T. Taylor, former Chief Operating Officer of Kyphon Inc., has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer. Taylor succeeds Thomas C. Wilder III who has decided to pursue other opportunities after successfully securing the Series D funding and serving as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer since April 2006.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to lead PhotoThera during this critical period of building the clinical evidence to support use of our TLT technology in treating acute ischemic stroke patients," said Taylor.

Taylor most recently served as Vice President and General Manager for the Kyphon Products, Spinal & Biologics Business of Medtronic, Inc. Prior to Medtronic's acquisition of Kyphon in late 2007, Taylor served as Kyphon's Chief Operating Officer from 2006, and as Chief Financial Officer from 2004 through 2006. Prior to his Kyphon tenure, Taylor gained in-depth experience across the medical device industry while serving as Chief Financial Officer for ReSound Corporation, a hearing healthcare company, and in executive positions with Allergan, Inc. and American Hospital Supply Corporation. Taylor holds a B.S. in Corporate Finance from San Diego State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.

"With the strong foundation Tom Wilder helped to build and the addition to the team of Art's deep operating expertise, I believe we are well positioned to take full advantage of our promising NEST-2 results with the launch of NEST-3 to secure the necessary data to support commercialization of our TLT technology," said Jackson Streeter, M.D., Founder and Executive Chairman, PhotoThera.

The results of the NEST-2 study, which demonstrated both the safety of the TLT treatment and statistically significant effectiveness for certain cohorts of stroke patients, were recently presented at the American Heart Association's International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California, by Justin Zivin, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurosciences at the University of California San Diego and Principal Investigator for the NEST-2 study. The results were also published online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association on February 20, 2009.

About PhotoThera, Inc

PhotoThera, Inc. (www.photothera.com), located in Carlsbad, California, is developing transcranial laser therapy (TLT) for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke and other neurological diseases and disorders. According to the American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States with approximately 700,000 strokes annually. Ischemic stroke, which accounts for about 83 percent of all strokes, occurs as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain.

About Warburg Pincus: Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm. The firm has approximately $30 billion of assets under management including $10 billion available for investment in a range of sectors including healthcare, financial services, energy, technology, media, telecommunications, consumer, industrial and real estate. Its active portfolio of more than 100 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is a growth investor and an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 12 private equity funds which have invested more than $29 billion in approximately 600 companies in 30 countries. The firm has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.waburgpincus.com.