Willow Biosciences Inc., a leading biotechnology company that manufactures ultra-pure, sustainably produced cannabinoids via yeast-based biosynthesis, is pleased to provide the following operational and corporate updates.
Commercial Scale Operational Update
In March 2021, Willow completed its first commercial scale fermentation run of cannabigerol (“CBG“) with its manufacturing partner at their European facilities. The product from this first run was primarily used for customer samples and to provide material to Cellular Goods PLC (“Cellular Goods“) as a part of their June 2021 supply agreement. The first shipment of CBG was delivered to Cellular Goods in July 2021. Since this initial production run, Willow has increased its production titer by >400% and has carried out additional fermentation runs yielding tens of kilograms of ultra-pure CBG at >10,000 L fermentation scale. The Company continues to make significant titer improvements to its strain, with further production runs planned through the end of the year.
CBGA Production Update
Since launching CBG, Willow has received inquiries for its acidic precursor, cannabigerolic acid (“CBGA“), which is not readily available through extraction. Willow is pleased to announce that it has developed a process for production of ultrapure cannabigerolic acid and samples are now available for customer assessment and product development. CBGA is an exciting, rare cannabinoid with distinctive properties and has been shown to act as an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and neuroprotectant in research studies. The unique benefit of Willow biosynthetic production process in yeast is that it can efficiently produce the acidic and neutral forms of cannabinoids in high purity.
Corporate Update
A claim alleging infringement of Canadian Patent No. 2,770,774 was served on the Company. Willow is confident the claim is entirely without merit and intends to vigorously defend it.
The patent relates to the aromatic prenyl transferase CsPT1 from cannabis. Willow does not utilize CsPT1 in any of its development programs or commercialized processes. Willow has applied its in-house cannabis genomic databases and enzyme engineering technologies to the discovery and development of novel, proprietary genes for biosynthetic production of cannabinoids in yeast. Willow has developed distinctly different, proprietary genes for the steps within the primary cannabinoid pathway and filed multiple patent applications relating to key genes within its developed cannabinoid pathway.
Willow has developed a proprietary cannabinoid biosynthetic pathway for producing ultra-pure cannabinoids that does not involve CsPT1.
About Willow Biosciences Inc.
Willow is a leading biotechnology company that develops and produces high-purity, plant derived ingredients for the consumer care, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. Willow’s biotechnology platform allows creation of a consistent, scalable and sustainable product that benefits both B2B and B2C customers. Willow’s R&D team has a proven track record of developing and commercializing bio-based manufacturing processes and products for both the consumer and pharmaceutical industries.
