Company reports record revenue of $1.0 million, an increase of approximately 600%
over the second quarter of 2023
Signed strategic partnership with leading
pharmaceutical manufacturer, Laurus Labs, to develop biobased
processes for seven high value APIs with large, existing
markets
Company now anticipates revenue of over
$4 million in 2024 on existing
programs
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ - Willow Biosciences
Inc. ("Willow" or the "Company")
(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, 2024, reporting
significantly higher revenue and reduced costs.
"The second quarter was marked by significant pipeline and
revenue growth with the addition of the Laurus Labs ("Laurus")
strategic partnership that includes seven high value APIs," said
Dr. Chris Savile, Willow's President
& CEO. "In addition, the Company further strengthened its
balance sheet by launching a private placement in June, which
closed after the end of the quarter, and continued on its path to
further increase efficiency and reduce costs", added Dr.
Savile.
Second quarter and recent corporate highlights
- On May 30, 2024, Willow announced
a multi-product development and licensing partnership with Laurus,
a leading research-driven pharmaceutical and biotechnology company
with a $3.9 billion market cap that
serves global pharmaceutical companies and offers CDMO services.
Under the terms of the collaboration which includes seven
high-value advanced intermediates and active pharmaceutical
ingredients, Willow expects to earn significant annual revenues in
research & development and royalties, including $4.0 million in guaranteed research &
development payments in year one. Upon commercialization of the
APIs, Willow will receive an annual royalty based on worldwide
sales.
- On June 3, 2024, Willow announced
a brokered private placement to raise up to C$3.0 million with Independent Trading Group
(ITG) Inc. acting as lead agent and sole bookrunner on a "best
efforts" basis. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Company
announced that it closed brokered private placement offering of
16,397,365 units ("Units") of the Company at a price of
$0.10 per Unit for aggregate gross
proceeds to the Company of $1,639,737.
- On June 26, 2024, Willow
announced a new feasibility study for a partnership with an
innovative Ag-Biotech company to apply its technology platform to
production of a class of bioactive pesticides. Subsequent to the
end of the quarter, the Company announced that the feasibility
study was successful and that it has signed a fully funded strain
engineering program (the "Program"). The Program is expected
to take at least 12 months to complete, with guaranteed research
and development revenue for Willow of $1.25
million within the first 6 months and an additional
$1 million in research and
development revenue in the following six months, with an option to
extend, should both parties decide to continue. If successful, upon
completion of the Program, the Company will receive significant
commercial milestone payments, which are tiered based on the
performance of the new strain.
- Also on June 26, 2024, Willow
announced that it has further strengthened its AI capabilities and
its business development capabilities by appointing Dr.
Richard Fox and Mr. Gregory Rocklin as senior advisors,
respectively. Dr. Richard Fox joined
Willow as a Senior Advisor, AI Platform Technologies. Dr. Fox is a
highly accomplished industry veteran with 25 years of experience in
the fields of data science, computational biology, protein,
metabolic, and genome engineering. Mr. Gregory Rocklin joined Willow as Senior Advisor,
Corporate Development. Mr. Rocklin has 30+ years of experience in
the pharmaceutical industry in corporate and business development
roles, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, strategy,
product licensing, and financings. Mr. Rocklin was responsible for
securing the recent multi-million-dollar deal with Laurus Labs and
will continue to focus on securing additional high value strategic
deals in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and chemical
sectors.
Second quarter financial highlights
- Willow ended the quarter with approximately $0.7 million in cash as of June 30, 2024, with another $0.5 million in restricted cash that became
unrestricted subsequent to the end of the quarter.
- Willow had revenue of $1.0
million during the quarter, a new record for the Company and
an increase of approximately 660% over the second quarter of
2023.
- Willow continued to transition to a more efficient company with
a total used in operating activities of $733
thousand, a cash burn of less than $250 thousand per month.
Outlook
The Company remains steadfast in its revenue expectations for FY
2024 revenues to be in excess of $4
million, an increase of almost 350% over 2023. This revenue
expectation for FY 2024 is forecast to be driven from existing
programs. In addition to the new programs that have already been
announced so far in 2024, the Company expects to add at least one
more fully funded, partnered program as well as one new internal
program before the end of 2024.
Willow's unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and
related management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A")
for the quarter ended June 30, 2024,
are available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at
www.sedarplus.ca.
About Willow Biosciences Inc.
Willow develops biobased processes to manufacture ingredients
for pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and consumer 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 BioOxi™ are registered trademarks of Willow
Biosciences Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may include forward-looking statements
including opinions, assumptions, estimates and the Company's
assessment of future plans, operations and expansion, and, more
particularly, statements concerning: Willow's business outlook for
the remainder of 2024, including revenue growth and reduced cash
burn; development programs with existing partners and pipeline of
potential partners; execution of a significant deal in the second
quarter of 2024, including timing and anticipated benefits thereof;
the demand and market size potential of the synthetic ingredients
industry; and the business plan of the Company. 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;
completion of the strategic partnership described in this press
release; 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, state 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 MD&A 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 SEDAR+ profile on www.sedarplus.ca.
Any financial outlook and future-oriented financial information
contained in this document regarding prospective financial
performance, financial position, cash balances or revenue is based
on assumptions about future events, including economic conditions
and proposed courses of action based on management's assessment of
the relevant information that is currently available. Projected
operational information contains forward-looking information and is
based on a number of material assumptions and factors, as are set
out above. These projections may also be considered to contain
future-oriented financial information or a financial outlook. The
actual results of the Company's operations for any period will
likely vary from the amounts set forth in these projections and
such variations may be material. Actual results will vary from
projected results. Readers are cautioned that any such financial
outlook and future-oriented financial information contained herein
should not be used for purposes other than those for which it is
disclosed herein.
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.
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SOURCE Willow Biosciences Inc.
