Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:APDN), a polymerase chain reaction-based DNA manufacturer, has entered into a securities purchase agreement with an institutional investor, for the purchase and sale of 1.5 million shares of common stock at a price of $2.80 per share. The registered direct offering is expected to result in total gross proceeds of approximately $4.2 million, before agents' fees and other estimated offering expenses. The company has also agreed to issue to the investor unregistered warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1.5 million shares of common stock in a concurrent private placement. The warrants will have an exercise price of $2.84 per share, be exercisable six months from the date of issuance and will expire five years from the initial exercise date.
The offering is expected to close on or about February 24, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
The company currently intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and to advance its LinearDNA manufacturing platform.
The LinearDNA platform has utility in the nucleic acid-based in vitro diagnostics and preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development and manufacturing market. The platform is used to manufacture DNA for customers as components of in vitro diagnostic tests and for preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development in the fields of adoptive cell therapies, DNA vaccines, RNA therapies, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats based therapies, and gene therapies.
The LinearDNA platform also has non-biologic applications, such as supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology. Key end-markets include textiles, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, and cannabis, among others.
