Applied DNA Sciences Selected for Multi-Year Contract
Spearheads Green DNA Anti-Counterfeit Program for the UK and EU
STONY BROOK, NY--(Marketwire - August 3, 2009) - Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (OTCBB: APDN)
announced that its SigNature® DNA Anti-Counterfeit technology has been
selected as the sole security platform in a program funded by the European
Regional Development Fund (a fund allocated by the European Union) and
Yorkshire Forward. SigNature DNA applications will include the protection
against counterfeiting and diversion of UK manufactured textiles from
"fiber to fabric." The program will protect products from other industries
as well.
APDN is one of four innovative platform technologies chosen to help
accelerate the Yorkshire and Humber region's expertise in areas of growing
market demand and economic importance. The other three technologies are not
related to security.
"The SigNature DNA Anti-Counterfeit program was selected because it offers
immediate and significant competitive advantage to the Yorkshire's high
quality textile manufacturers. The public funding contribution to the
Program is significant, equating to over £1 million for each of the
activity areas including the APDN Anti Counterfeiting activity. This
contribution is designed to generate significant additional investment from
the private sector which should generate at least £2 million in each
activity area over the lifetime of the Program," stated Bill Macbeth,
Managing Director, Textile Centre of Excellence.
Based on the successful completion of its Trial UK Textile contract that
was completed in December 2008, this extends APDN's current collaborations
with Yorkshire and the Humber-based companies as part of a three-year,
£5.95 million (USD$9 million) contract funded by the European Regional
Development Fund and Yorkshire Forward with the Textile Centre of
Excellence and Leeds University's Centre for Technical Textiles. In
addition, capital equipment allocations for a DNA Authentication facility
located in Huddersfield are expected to be about £250,000 (USD$400,000).
APDN will rent the entire facility from the Textile Centre of Excellence.
Duplicating the contract process followed in the successful Trial Contract,
the formal service contract between APDN and the Textile Centre is expected
to be executed by September.
The DNA Anti-Counterfeit program will support pilot studies and commercial
scale-up of APDN's SigNature DNA taggants. It is anticipated that the
multi-year program will fund approximately 20 projects per annum. In the
first year, more than 25 commercial partners have already been identified.
APDN expects the financial implications to be multifaceted. The company has
already begun coordinating supply arrangements with several collaborators
in Yorkshire, including Addmaster and Nilorn UK.
"Yorkshire Forward is very pleased to invest in new platform technologies
that will foster growth and, ultimately, reap positive economic benefits to
the Yorkshire business community, and the UK and European public at large.
SigNature DNA is a true platform technology that has exciting and practical
applications that extend to multiple industry sectors," added Jim Farmery,
Yorkshire Forward.
In April 2009, APDN established an initial DNA testing capacity at the
Textile Centre of Excellence by APDN's subsidiary, Applied DNA Sciences
Europe Ltd. The facility is expanding the customer base for APDN's two
DNA authentication programs, SigNature DNA and BioMaterial GenoTyping™.
SigNature DNA is a botanically derived marker employed to identify
originals. Recently, the facility was used to complete forensic analyses on
recovered evidence for multiple UK Police groups that will be used to
convict criminals who steal
cash-in-transit boxes, and to repatriate recovered SigNature DNA-marked
money to its original owners.
APDN's CEO, Dr. James Hayward, added: "We are immensely proud to be a
significant part of this regional development contract that will involve a
wide range of potential projects based on our SigNature DNA
Anti-Counterfeit Program. Our European subsidiary, centered in the UK, will
pursue further business development with OEMs and security integrators, as
well as governments, corporations and consumers throughout the region. The
benefit of the funding is to lower any barrier to entry for our regional
customers, by also providing partial funding to the customer for expenses
during pre-commercial pilot work. We look forward to the opportunity to
successful market engagement and accelerated routes to revenue."
About APDN
APDN sells patented DNA security solutions to protect products, brands and
intellectual property from counterfeiting and diversion. SigNature DNA is a
botanical mark used to authenticate products in a unique manner that
essentially cannot be copied. APDN also provides BioMaterial GenoTyping™
by detecting genomic DNA in natural materials to authenticate finished
products. Both technologies protect brands and products in a wide range of
industries and provide a forensic chain of evidence that can be used to
prosecute perpetrators. To learn more, go to www.adnas.com where APDN
routinely posts all press releases.
The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature and are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe APDN'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 APDN. Actual results could differ materially from
those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial
resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other
factors detailed from time to time in APDN's SEC reports and filings,
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on December 16, 2008 and
our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. APDN 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.