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.
Willow Biosciences logo (CNW Group/Willow Biosciences Inc.)
"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.
