New partnerships and contracts expected to bring in $1 million in near-term R&D/milestone revenue and generate long term commercial revenue
Sunnyvale, California – August 8, 2023 – Willow Biosciences Inc. (“Willow“) (TSX: WLLW) (OTCQB: CANSF), a leading biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing industrial manufacturing of pure, consistent, and sustainable functional ingredients, today released its financial and operating results for the three months ended June 30, 2023, reporting further progress in its commercial expansion.
“The second quarter was marked by significant further progress in our commercial buildout and portfolio diversification with new agreements signed, multiple new partnerships under discussion and with two contracts in late-stage negotiations,” said Dr. Chris Savile, Willow’s President & CEO. “This growing demand for our R&D capabilities led us to cost effectively move to larger new lab and office facilities in July to accommodate an increased pipeline of projects.”
Willow’s unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Highlights for the Quarter
- Closed three new contracts/partnerships during the quarter expected to bring in over
$1 million in near-term R&D/milestone revenue and, if successful, generate long-term commercial revenue.
- Engaged in discussions regarding multiple partnerships with two related contracts in late-stage negotiations. The Company is seeing significant opportunities arise as it expands its enzyme engineering and supply capabilities and due to at least one large competitor exiting certain sectors.
- In collaboration with its partner, Sandhill One, LLC, initiated scale up development for production of ursodeoxycholic acid (“UDCA”), used in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products. Willow previously announced successful results from utilizing its BioOxiTM bio-oxidation platform for development of a key step for production of this large volume active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”).
- Moved to a new larger lab and office space in Sunnyvale, California to accommodate Willow’s current and expected pipeline of partnered projects. Due to the availability of vacant prime office facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Company was able to opportunistically source these new facilities cost effectively with negligible cost increase relative to its old facility in Mountain View, California.
- Willow ended the quarter with approximately $6.5 million of cash as of June 30, 2023.
- The Company reported revenue of $135,000 for the quarter, which was down sequentially due simply to the timing of contracts and completion of R&D/milestone revenue generation.
Business Outlook for 2023
The Company has continued to successfully execute on its targeted commercial and financial goals for 2023 and anticipates that revenue will accelerate during the second half of the year leading to Willow’s continued confidence in its ability to post rather significant revenue growth for the full year coupled with reduced cash burn.
About Willow Biosciences Inc.
Willow develops and produces precision fermented functional ingredients for the health and wellness, food and beverage and personal care markets. Willow’s FutureGrown™ and BioOxi™ platforms enable large-scale production with sustainability at its core. Willow’s R&D team has a proven track record of developing and commercializing bio-based manufacturing processes and products to benefit our B2B partners and their customers. For more information, visit www.willowbio.com.
FutureGrown™ and BiOxi™ are registered trademarks of Willow Biosciences Inc. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective holders.
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Travis Doupe
Chief Financial Officer
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may include forward-looking statements including opinions, assumptions, estimates and the Company’s assessment of future plans and operations, and, more particularly, statements concerning: the development programs with partners and pipeline of potential partners, including the ability to accommodate new programs and to expand capabilities;; the demand and market size potential of the synthetic ingredients industry; and the business plan of the Company, generally, including becoming a leader in precision fermentation, research and production of functional ingredients. When used in this news release, the words “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intent,” “may,” “project,” “should,” and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by the Company which include, but are not limited to: the success of Willow’s strategic partnerships, including the development of future strategic partnerships; the financial strength of the Company; the ability of the Company to fund its business plan using cash on hand and existing resources; the market for Willow’s products; the ability of the Company to obtain and retain applicable licences; the ability of the Company to obtain suitable manufacturing partners and other strategic relationships; and the successful implementation of Willow’s commercialization and production strategy, generally. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties, and although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of important factors could cause actual results biotechnology industry in general; the success of the Company’s research and development strategies; infringement on intellectual property; failure to benefit from partnerships or successfully integrate acquisitions; actions and initiatives of federal and provincial governments and changes to government policies and the execution and impact of these actions, initiatives and policies; competition from other industry participants; adverse U.S., Canadian and global economic conditions; adverse global events and public-health crises,; failure to comply with certain regulations; departure of key management personnel or inability to attract and retain talent; and other factors more fully described from time to time in the reports and filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities. Please refer to the Company’s most recent annual information form and management’s discussion and analysis for additional risk factors relating to Willow, which can be accessed either on Willow’s website at www.willowbio.com or under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com.
The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.