Theralase Reports Cancer Therapy Breakthrough

Date Announced: 28 Mar 2012

Human trials may start as early as next year, says Canadian firm.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 28, 2012) - Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TLT) announced today that its anti-cancer Photo Dynamic Compound (PDC) technology was found to completely destroy subcutaneous (under the skin) colon cancer tumours in a mouse model. Four weeks post treatment; the mice continue to be cancer free.

Dr. Arkady Mandel, Chief Scientific Officer of Theralase said, "In cancer treatment, destroying the tumour is half the battle, while the other half is preventing the cancer from recurring. These findings are important because they demonstrate that our leading drug candidate in combination with a specific dose of light can prevent the cancer from returning. Preventing cancer from recurring in animal models is an important benchmark in developing new cancer therapeutics aimed at prolonging life."

Roger Dumoulin-White, President and CEO of Theralase Inc. stated, "The achievement of this important milestone signifies that Theralase's leading drug PDC candidate is effective in the destruction of cancer in a live animal model and can prevent the cancer from recurring. Theralase's PDC technology was able to completely destroy subcutaneous cancer in mice and allow them to live cancer free for up to 4 weeks. Mice not treated with our PDC technology did not survive even 2 weeks. Based on recent successes in our research, we are confident that Theralase is well positioned to expedite the required steps to initiate human trials in the near future."

Theralase's work in this area will be presented at an International Symposium on "Photodynamic Therapy and Photodiagnosis in Clinical Practice" conference in Brixton, Italy in October 2012.

The following summarizes the research conducted by Theralase scientists:

• In early February, mice were injected under the skin with 350,000 colon cancer cells
• All tumours were allowed to grow until they reached 5 mm in size
• On February 21, 2012, half the mice were used as a control group where no therapy was administered, while the remaining animals became the treatment group and were administered an intratumour injection of Theralase's lead PDC
• The PDC was allowed to distribute within the cancerous tumour for 4 hours
• The PDC was then activated by Theralase's proprietary laser light protocol for 32 minutes
• After 24 hours, the tumours were no longer visible on the treated mice
• All mice were monitored and examined daily thereafter
• Tumours in the control mice grew to the maximum allowable size of 12 mm, as determined by the study protocol, and did not survive for longer than 2 weeks
• The mice treated with Theralase's PDC technology continue to be cancer free four weeks post treatment

Theralase has a growing portfolio of intellectual property patents protecting the Theralase PDC technology for many years. Theralase's anti-cancer technology pipeline includes drug candidates, in various advanced stages of preclinical development thus preparing Theralase's anti-cancer PDC technology the ability to enter human clinical trials as early as 2013.

Source: Theralase

Contact

Theralase Technologies Inc.
Roger Dumoulin-White
President & Chief Executive Officer
416-447-8455 ext. 225

E-mail: rwhite@theralase.com

Web Site: www.theralase.com