– Applied DNA to Receive Staged Payments Totaling $5M Over the Next Four-Months –

– Agreement Calls for Annual Payment Minima that Scale from $7 Million in Year 3 to $20 Million in Year 15 –

– Applied DNA Technology to Power ETCH BioTrace System to Verify Legal Cannabis and Hemp Markets Globally –

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.”

Founded in 2016, TheraCann International Benchmark Corporation offers a one-stop, full-service solution for the International cannabis marketplace. TheraCann provides business, technology and industry experts who apply advanced technology and help clients plan, design, implement and manage their cannabis businesses. Integrating nearly 3.5 million square feet of cannabis operations and the successful launch of groundbreaking Enterprise Resource Planning and Compliance (ERP+C) software, vertical computer automatex cannabis aeroponic cultivation systems (Sprout AI) and patented genetic tracking and diversion prevention systems (ETCH BioTrace), TheraCann provides cannabis-related businesses with solutions to fit their international banking and cannabis license regulatory requirements.

More information about TheraCann is available at www.theracann.solutionswww.etchbio.solutions, www.sproutai.solutions, and www.OS2.solutions. Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Applied DNA is a provider of molecular technologies that enable supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping and pre-clinical nucleic acid-based therapeutic drug candidates.

Applied DNA makes life real and safe by providing innovative, molecular-based technology solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion.

Visit adnas.com for more information. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Join our mailing list.

Common stock listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and warrants are listed under the symbol APDNW.

The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Applied DNA’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Applied DNA. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, shifting enforcement priorities of US federal laws relating to cannabis, and various other factors detailed from time to time in Applied DNA’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 18, 2018 and our subsequent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on February 7, 2019, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov. Applied DNA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.

For Applied DNA:
investor contact: Sanjay M. Hurry, 212-838-3777, shurry@lhai.com
program/media contact: John Shearman, 631-240-8838, john.shearman@adnas.com
web: www.adnas.com
twitter: @APDN

For TheraCann Benchmark International:
investor contact:
 Jason Warnock, CEO, +1 (844) 877-2649 ext.3002,jwarnock@theracanncorp.com
program contact: Chris Bolton, COO, +1 (844) 877-2649 ext. 3004, cbolton@theracanncorp.com
media contact: Celia Villarreal Osorio, Director Marketing, +1 (844) 877-2649 ext. 3044,cvillarreal@theracanncorp.com
web: www.theracann.solutions
twitter: @theracanncorp
LinkedIn: theracann-corp