Toronto, Ontario - October 17, 2012 -- Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: TLT) announced today that its Photo Dynamic Compound (PDC) technology has been proven effective in the destruction of staphylococcus aureus and its multi drug resistant strain, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA.

MRSA is a bacteria strain that has grown resistant to antibiotics and hence has the potential of causing invasive infections, which are extremely difficult to treat in 25% of the population infected. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 94,000 individuals were hospitalized as a result of MRSA infections and there were 18,650 deaths as a result, costing the US healthcare system an additional $45 billion a year.

The scientific data supporting this discovery was presented yesterday at the 9th International Symposium of Photodynamic Therapy and Photodiagnosis in Clinical Practice held in Brixen, Italy. The presentation by Dr. Lothar Lilge confirms the significance of the research conducted by Theralase's and University Health Network's (UHN) scientists.

Dr. Arkady Mandel, Chief Scientific Officer of Theralase Inc. stated that, "Theralase unveiled to the scientific community its advanced sterilization platform technology that is able to deliver an 8 log or 99.999999% kill rate, which is comparable with complete sterilisation of life threatening infectious microorganisms, such as staphylococcus aureus and MRSA. Theralase's new PDC technology would therefore be well suited to preventing hospital acquired infections, as well as infections found in nursing homes, schools or bacterial contaminations in food processing facilities. Quite simply, once MRSA bacteria have been detected, they could be quickly destroyed utilizing Theralase's patented Photo Dynamic Compounds and proprietary light sources."

Dr. Lothar Lilge, Senior Scientist, Ontario Cancer Institute / Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN stated, "Theralase's PDCs in conjunction with light exposure were shown to achieve essentially complete sterilization, even at low concentrations, against staphylococcus aureus and MRSA in an in vitro laboratory setting. The effective dose of tested PDCs was not toxic for human tissues even after 4 hours of incubation demonstrating their suitability and safety to sterilization applications. As an added benefit, the Theralase PDCs maintained their sterilizing activity even in low oxygen conditions demonstrating a Type I photosensitization effect that may open up new opportunities for the safe and effective destruction of many strains of deadly organisms and tumours that thrive in low oxygen environments, such as cancer."

Dr. Arkady Mandel went on to say, "The dramatic increase of antibiotic resistance in bacteria has led me to investigate whether Theralase's PDCs would be effective in the destruction of MRSA, as an alternative to antibacterial pharmaceutical drugs. Our successes to date will allow Theralase's PDCs to be used in the future to combat difficult to heal invasive infections. The Theralase PDCs in these studies have been chosen for their low dark toxicity to human tissue and for their high cancer and bacteria targeting properties. The Theralase PDCs are extremely promising for the development of advanced disinfection and sterilization strategies for controlling and eliminating hospital and community acquired infections, such as MRSA."

Roger Dumoulin-White, President and CEO of Theralase stated, "Based on our recent successes with our PDC technology in destroying MRSA, Theralase is actively pursuing early commercialization of this technology through strategic partnerships to co-develop the technology for particular sterilization applications. As an added benefit, due to the very low concentrations of PDCs required for sterilization, the costs of administering this technology will be very cost effective. The early commercialization of our patented PDC technology with strategic partners will dramatically improve the financial revenues of the organization. These scientific studies thus highlight Theralase's commitment to advancing its exclusive patented technologies for the ultimate goal of greater commercial opportunities for the Company."