Applied DNA Receives Notice of Allowance on Second Patent Protecting Proprietary DNA Transfer System for Large-Scale Cotton Tagging

- Newly allowed Patent Protects Methods of Tagging Cotton Fibers During Ginning Process -

STONY BROOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (“Applied DNA” or the “Company”) a leader in Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based DNA manufacturing for product authenticity and traceability solutions, announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance for its U.S. Patent Application No. 14/572,552 (US 2016/0168781 A1) entitled “Method and Device for Marking Fibrous Materials.” The allowed claims cover methods of DNA-tagging cotton fibers while they travel through the forced air systems found at cotton gins, and later authenticating the DNA-tagged cotton fibers to prove their provenance and/or authenticity all the way to finished goods. DTS units have tagged over 300 million pounds of cotton to-date.

The allowed patent application, which is expected to be issued as a U.S. patent in the next few months, extends the Company’s patent protection for its proprietary DNA Transfer System (“DTS”), a key component of its CertainT® platform for cotton. The Company also holds United States Patent 9,963,740 on its DTS and has several related international patent applications pending.

“The extension of our patent protection to cover our method of DNA-tagging cotton demonstrates our commitment to broadly protect our CertainT platform and ensure our ability to deliver supply chain security and authenticity to current and future CertainT customers,” said Dr. James Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA. “Despite the downturn in global economic activity that has impacted the global textile supply chains we serve, supply chain certainty and social responsibility remain fundamental to the textile industry’s long-term strategy. We believe the COVID-19 pandemic has increased consumer awareness of the need for authenticity in such textiles as those used in personal protective equipment. When economic activity within the industry ramps, we believe that our CertainT platform is well-positioned to address the critical issues of traceability and authenticity in our traditional home textiles base, as well as new apparel opportunities currently being explored.”

“The key to the CertainT platform for cotton is the ability to cost-effectively tag cotton in very large quantities while concurrently collecting data that informs the supply chain down to each individual bale – the date, time, location of tagging, the type of cotton being tagged, among others – through the use of our DTS to give brand owners the assurance that their cotton, their brand, and their supply chains are secure through to their end-customers,” said MeiLin Wan, vice president of Textile Sales at Applied DNA. “In addition, our DTS can be permanently or temporarily installed in essentially any gin, allowing the company to tag cotton worldwide, with DTS units already installed in the U.S., Egypt and Australia.”

About Applied DNA Sciences

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.

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The Company’s common stock is listed on NASDAQ under ticker symbol ‘APDN’, and its publicly traded warrants are listed on OTC under ticker symbol ‘APPDW’.

Applied DNA is a member of the Russell Microcap® Index.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform 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 the possibility of a failure to make timely payment on its outstanding secured convertible notes and resulting enforcement by noteholders of remedies on collateral which includes substantially all of Applied DNA’s assets, its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including whether any of Applied DNA’s or its partners vaccine candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process, including receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, the unknown ability to manufacture the vaccine candidates in large quantities, the fact that the safety and efficacy of the vaccine candidates has not yet been established, the unknown ability of the vaccine candidates to generate revenue or profit for Applied DNA, the fact that there has never been a commercial drug product utilizing PCR-produced DNA technology approved for therapeutic use, the unknown outcome of any applications or requests to U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, disruptions in the supply of raw materials and supplies, 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 12, 2019, as amended on December 16, 2019 and on January 27, 2020, and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 6, 2020, May 14, 2020 and August 6, 2020, 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 or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.