Applied DNA Announces Exclusive Cannabis Licensing and Cooperation Agreement with TheraCann International

STONY BROOK, N.Y., and PANAMA CITY, PANAMA, March 29, 2019. – Applied DNA Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (“Applied DNA”), a leader in PCR-based DNA manufacturing for product authenticity and traceability solutions, and TheraCann International Benchmark Corporation (“TheraCann”), a leading global full service legal cannabis and hemp consultancy, announced that they have entered into an exclusive licensing and cooperation agreement (the “Agreement”) that grants TheraCann’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ETCH BioTrace, S.A., the use of Applied DNA’s CertainT^® supply chain integrity platform technology within the global legal cannabis and hemp markets. Under the terms of the Agreement, a $5 million up-front licensing fee is payable to Applied DNA over a four-month period beginning on or before April 15, 2019, and completed by August 15, 2019.

Pursuant to the Agreement, Applied DNA will be the exclusive supplier of molecular tags (provided as SigNature^®), molecular tag application systems and molecular tag authentication systems for TheraCann’s ETCH biotrace seed-to-sale-tracking system. The Parties will jointly market and sell the system, with a profit share after the recoupment of initial investments. The Agreement also calls for specific annual minimum payment milestones to Applied DNA, starting in year two, and scaling from $7M in year three to $20M in year fifteen.

“This Agreement – containing the largest payment transaction in our company history – demonstrates further validation of our DNA technology platform and its commercialization across industries where compliance, control and tracking are essential to marketplace safety and security,” stated Dr. James A. Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA. “The impact on our balance sheet is beneficial and will allow us to respond to the requests for pre-commercial pilots we have already received. We believe the growing demand for legalized cannabis is driving the creation of the industry’s global supply chains and is accelerating the need for solutions to secure and validate them from inception through consumption, destruction and/or recall. Powered by our CertainT platform, TheraCann’s ETCH biotrace system can offer the global legal cannabis and hemp industry the unparalleled ability to ensure true authentication and provenance verification. Given TheraCann’s growing standing in the industry, and in conjunction with TheraCann’s Benchmark SOLUTION™, full turn-key cannabis project offering, we believe that this Agreement effectively places Applied DNA at the heart of a fast-growing industry.”

Jason Warnock, CEO of TheraCann International stated, “The marketplace has responded with gusto to our shared ETCH biotrace platform. Multiple letters of intent from numerous countries that wish to protect their licensed cannabis supply chain to maximize international export opportunities already anticipate commercial trials, and quotations are with customers for large scale supply.”