- Company Progressing Textile Projects Representing New Commercial Opportunities Catalyzed by Brands and Suppliers Prioritizing Their Commitment to Labor Rights, Social Responsibility, and Sustainable Supply Chains -

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (Applied DNA or the “Company”), a leader in Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based DNA manufacturing and nucleic acid-based technologies, today announced that it received purchase orders from a textile customer totaling $1.6 million to supply molecular taggant to tag textile fibers. The Company expects to ship the majority of the total value of the purchase orders during the current quarter ending September 30, 2021, with the balance expected to be shipped in the subsequent quarter.

Concurrently, the Company announced that it is progressing textile projects (cotton, man-made cellulosic fibers, recycled polyester, leather, down and feather, and specialty coatings) with leading apparel brands that, if successful and adopted by said brands and their suppliers, would represent new commercial opportunities for Applied DNA in fiscal 2022. These projects include textiles of multiple fibers with customer operations in the Americas, Europe, the U.K., and Southeast Asia.

The molecular taggant, a key component to CertainT®, the Company’s traceability system, serves as a unique identifier that can be tested for its presence as the tagged material travels throughout virtually any global supply chain. CertainT for textiles is proven at a commercial scale, which is essential to brands and manufacturers with diversified supply chains that require scale, flexibility, and traceability.

“We are pleased to see demand for tagged textiles approaching pre-pandemic levels,” said MeiLin Wan, vice president of Textile Sales at Applied DNA. “The pandemic has forced textile brands and their suppliers to reimagine their supply chain models to prioritize sustainability, brand protection, and supply chain traceability. Having spent the pandemic positioning CertainT as the means through which to accelerate their traceability investments, we believe that the projects before us represent the future of textile supply chain traceability.”

Added Dr. James A. Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA, “The shock waves created by the pandemic, together with newly expanded government regulations that require greater proof of product provenance, have created an urgent need for supply chain traceability that can only be addressed, we believe, through a holistic approach that marries secure technologies and systems to deliver true end-to-end traceability. With CertainT, brands and their suppliers can deliver on their brand promise from fiber to finished goods utilizing a platform that is proven at commercial scale across three continents. Unlike our competitors, we believe CertainT provides cost-effective supply chain traceability that can withstand the scrutiny of government agencies and judicial court systems. CertainT is the trust that brands and their suppliers seek and that which their customers demand and deserve.”

About the CertainT® Platform

The CertainT platform has three technology pillars (Tag, Test, Track), which allows raw materials and products to be tagged with a unique molecular identifier. This identifier can then be tested for its presence as it travels throughout a global supply chain. All the data points associated with tagging and testing are tracked by uploading to a secure cloud database. The CertainT platform can be used across industries, including textiles, cannabis, military, leather, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, and personal care.

About Applied DNA Sciences

Applied DNA is commercializing LinearDNA™, its proprietary, large-scale polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”)-based manufacturing platform that allows for the large-scale production of specific DNA sequences.

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 (CAR T and TCR therapies), DNA vaccines (anti-viral and cancer), RNA therapies, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) 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.

Leveraging its deep expertise in nucleic acid-based technologies, the Company has also established safeCircle™, a pooled COVID-19 testing program that is grounded in the Company’s EUA-authorized Linea™ COVID-19 Assay Kit. safeCircle is designed to look for infection within defined populations or communities utilizing pooled testing methodologies that increase testing efficiencies. The Company has also developed and intends to seek EUA-authorization for its Linea^TM SARS-CoV-2 Mutation Panel, an assay-based panel for the detection of certain SARS-CoV-2 genetic mutations.

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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 its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, including Applied DNA’s ability to successfully enter into commercial contracts for the implementation of its CertainT® platform, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, 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 17, 2020, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 11, 2021, May 13, 2021, and August 12, 2021, 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.

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