New partnerships and contracts expected to
bring in over $1 million in near-term
R&D/milestone revenue and generate long term commercial
revenue
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 8, 2023
/PRNewswire/ - 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.sedarplus.ca.
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.
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.sedarplus.ca.
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.