As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 19, 2022

March 11, 2024.

Registration Statement

No. 333-             

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.

(Exact name of registrantRegistrant as specified in its charter)

50 Health Sciences Drive

Stony Brook, New York 11790

631-240-8800

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including
area code, of registrant’sRegistrant’s principal executive offices)

James A. Hayward, Ph.D., Sc.D.
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.
50 Health Sciences Drive
Stony Brook, New York 11790
631-240-8801

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicablepublic:

From time to time after this registration statementRegistration Statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Formform are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.    x

If this Formform is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    ¨

If this Formform is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    ¨

If this Formform is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.    ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company”company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act and Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.    ¨

The Registrant hereby amends this registration statementRegistration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrantRegistrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statementRegistration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the registration statementRegistration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information contained in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. WeThe selling stockholders named in this prospectus may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and the Company iswe are not soliciting an offeroffers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where thesuch offer or sale is not permitted.

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.

Up to Shares11,288,122 shares of Common Stock

Pre-Funded Warrants to Purchase Up to      Shares of Common Stock

Common Warrants to Purchase Up to      Shares of Common Stock

Shares of Common Stock Underlying underlying the Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants

We are offering

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc.

This prospectus relates to the resale from time to time, by the selling stockholders (the “Selling Stockholders”) identified in this prospectus under the caption “Selling Stockholders,” of up to             shares of our common stock together with common warrants to purchase             shares of our common stock (and the11,288,122 shares of common stock, that are issuable from time to timepar value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), which the selling stockholders may acquire upon the exercise of outstanding warrants (the “Common Warrants”).

We issued the common warrants). The common warrants will be issued separately but must be purchased togetherCommon Warrants to the Selling Stockholders in a private placement concurrent with the common stock and/or thea registered direct offering (the “Offering”) of 3,228,056 shares of Common Stock and pre-funded warrants (as described below). The combined(the “Pre-Funded Warrants”) to purchase price for each share2,416,005 shares of common stock and accompanying common warrant is $      . The common warrantsCommon Stock. Each Common Warrant will be exercisable beginning on the date of issuance (the “Initial Exercise Date”), athave an exercise price of $$0.609 per share of Common Stock and will become exercisable upon Shareholder Approval. “Shareholder Approval” means the first trading day after the filing of a Form 8-K disclosing the approval pursuant to the applicable rules and regulations of The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) from the shareholders of the Company with respect to the issuance of all of the shares underlying the Common Warrants and the reduction in exercise price and extension of expiration dates of the Warrants described in “Warrant Repricing” beginning on page 16. The Common Warrants will expire on the five-year anniversary of the Initial Exercise Date.Shareholder Approval.

WeThe closing of the issuance and sale of the Common Warrants, Common Stock and Pre-Funded Warrants was consummated on February 2, 2024.

The Selling Stockholders of the securities and any of their pledgees, assignees and successors-in-interest may, from time to time, sell any or all of their securities covered hereby on the principal trading market or any other stock exchange, market or trading facility on which the securities are also offering to those purchasers, if any, whose purchasetraded or in private transactions. These sales may be at fixed or negotiated prices. See “Plan of our common stockDistribution” in this offering would otherwise result in such purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owningprospectus for more than 4.99% (or, atinformation. We will not receive any proceeds from the electionresale or other disposition of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock immediately followingCommon Stock by the consummation of this offering, the opportunity, in lieu of purchasing common stock, to purchase pre-funded warrants to purchase shares of our common stock. The purchase price of each pre-funded warrant will equal the price per share at which shares of our common stock are being sold to the public in this offering, minus $0.0001, and the exercise price of each pre-funded warrant will equal $0.0001 per share of common stock. For each pre-funded warrant purchased in this offering in lieu of common stock,Selling Stockholders. However, we will reducereceive the numberproceeds of shares of common stock being sold in the offering by one. Pursuant to this prospectus, we are also offering the shares of common stock issuable upon theany cash exercise of the common warrants and the pre-funded warrants.

Each pre-funded warrant is exercisable for one shareCommon Warrants. See “Use of our common stock (subject to adjustment as provided for therein) at any time at the option of the holder until such pre-funded warrant is exercised in full, provided that the holder will be prohibited from exercising pre-funded warrants for shares of our common stock if, as a result of such exercise, the holder, together with its affiliates, would own more than 4.99% of the total number of shares of our common stock then issued and outstanding. However, any holder may increase such percentage to any other percentage not in excess of 9.99%, provided that any increase in such percentage shall not be effective until 61 days after such notice to us.

We have engaged H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC (the “Placement Agent”), to act as our exclusive placement agent in connection with the securities offered by this prospectus. The Placement Agent has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to arrange for the sale of the securities offered by this prospectus. The Placement Agent is not purchasing or selling any of the securities we are offering, and the Placement Agent is not required to arrange the purchase or sale of any specific number of securities or dollar amount.

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “APDN.” The closing price of our common stock on July     , 2022, as reported by The Nasdaq Capital Market, was $       per share.

The public offering price per share of common stock and/or any pre-funded warrant, together with the common warrant that accompanies common stock or a pre-funded warrant will be determined between us, the Placement Agent and the investors in this offering at the time of pricing, and may be at a discount to the current market price. Therefore, the recent market price of $       per share of common stock used throughout this prospectus may not be indicative of the actual public offering price for our common stock, our pre-funded warrants and the common warrants. There is no established public trading market for the pre-funded warrants or common warrants, and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply for the listing of the pre-funded warrants or common warrants on any national securities exchange. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the common warrants and the pre-funded warrants will be limited.

We have agreed to pay the Placement Agent the Placement Agent fees set forth in the table below, which assumes that we sell all of the securities offered by this prospectus. See “Plan of Distribution”Proceeds” beginning on page 3914 and “Plan of Distribution” beginning on page 18 of this prospectus for more information regarding these arrangements. Thereinformation.

Our Common Stock is no minimum numberlisted on Nasdaq under the symbol “APDN.” On March 7, 2024, the last reported sale price of shares of common stock or pre-funded warrants or minimum aggregate amount of proceeds that isour Common Stock was $0.56 per share.

We are a condition“smaller reporting company,” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, have elected to comply with certain reduced reporting requirements for this offering to close. We may sell fewer than all of the shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants offered hereby, which may significantly reduce the amount of proceeds received by us, and investors in this offering will not receive a refund if we do not sell all of the securities offered hereby. In addition, we have not specified a minimum number of securities or amount of proceeds and we have not established an escrow account in connection with this offering. Because there is no escrow account and no minimum number of securities or amount of proceeds, investors could be in a position where they have invested in us, but we have not raised sufficient proceeds in this offering to adequately fund the intended uses of the proceeds as described in this prospectus.

(1) Based on an assumed public offering price of $       per share of common stock. The final public offering price per share of common stock or pre-funded warrant, together with the common warrant that accompanies common stock or a pre-funded warrant, as the case may be, will be determined by the Company, Placement Agent and the investors in this offeringprospectus and may beelect to do so in future filings. See the section titled “Implications of Being a discount to the current market price of the Company’s common stock.Smaller Reporting Company.”

(2) We have agreed to pay the Placement Agent a total cash fee equal to 7.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds raised in this offering and to reimburse the Placement Agent for its legal fees and expenses and other out-of-pocket expenses in an amount up to $50,000, and for its closing costs in an amount of up to $15,950. See “Plan of Distribution” for a description of the compensation to be received by the Placement Agent.

(3)Because there is no minimum number of securities or amount of proceeds required as a condition to closing in this offering, the actual public offering amount, Placement Agent fees, and proceeds to us, if any, are not presently determinable and may be substantially less than the total maximum offering amounts set forth above. For more information, see “Plan of Distribution.”

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors”“Risk Factors” beginning on page 11 8of this prospectus and elsewhereunder similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The securities are not being offered in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted.

Delivery of the securities offered hereby is expected to be made on or about             , 2022, subject to satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions.

H.C. Wainwright & Co.

The date of this Prospectusprospectus is                 , 2022.2024.

Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS

Prospectus

About this ProspectusABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

The registration statement of whichinformation contained in this prospectus forms a part that we have filed with the Securitiesis not complete and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) includes exhibits that provide more detail of the matters discussed in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and the related exhibits filed with the SEC, together with the additional information described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation by Reference” before making your investment decision.

may be changed. You should rely only on the information provided in or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, in any prospectus supplement or in a related free writing prospectus, or documents to which we otherwise refer you. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information.

We have not authorized any dealer, agent or other person to give any information or to make any representation other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. You must not rely upon any information or representation not contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or an accompanying prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus. This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, if any, do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor do this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, if any, constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, if any, is accurate on any date subsequent to the date set forth on the front of such document or that any information we have incorporated by reference is correct on any date subsequent to the date of the document incorporated by reference, even though this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus is delivered or securities are sold on a later date.

We have not done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus or any free writing prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. You are required to inform yourself about and to observe any restrictions relating as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus and any such free writing prospectus outside the United States.

We further note that the representations, warranties and covenants made by us in any agreement that is filed as an exhibit to any document that is incorporated by reference in this prospectus were made solely for the benefit of the parties to such agreement, including, in some cases, for the purpose of allocating risk among the parties to such agreements, and should not be deemed to be a representation, warranty or covenant to you. Moreover, such representations, warranties or covenants were accurate only as of the date when made. Accordingly, such representations, warranties and covenants should not be relied on as accurately representing the current state of our affairs.

You should also read and consider the information in the documents to which we have referred you under the caption “Where You Can Find More Information” in this prospectus. In addition, this prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to “Applied DNA,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Applied DNA Sciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and our subsidiaries. Our trademarks currently used in the United States include Applied DNA Sciences®, SigNature® molecular tags, SigNature® T molecular tags, fiberTyping®, DNAnet®, SigNify®, Beacon®, CertainT®, LinearDNA™, Linea™ COVID-19 Diagnostic Assay Kit and safeCircle^TM COVID-19 testing. Solely for convenience, trademarks and tradenames referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate in any way that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or that the applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these trademarks and tradenames. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

This prospectus contains and incorporates by reference market data and industry statistics and forecasts that are based on our own internal estimates as well as independent industry publications and other publicly-available information. Although we believe these sources are reliable, we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information and we have not independently verified this information. Although we are not aware of any misstatements regarding the market and industry data presented in this prospectus or the documents incorporated herein by reference, these estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the headings “Risk Factors” in this prospectus, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated herein by reference. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on this information.

Forward-Looking Statements

This prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference herein and any “free writing prospectus” we have authorized in connection with this offering contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that are intended to qualify for the “safe harbor” created by those sections. In addition, we may make forward-looking statements in other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC, and our management and other representatives may make forward-looking statements orally or in writing to analysts, investors, representatives of the media and others.

Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include, but are not limited to, statements using terminology such as “can”, “may”, “could”, “should”, “assume”, “forecasts”, “believe”, “designed to”, “will”, “expect”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “potential”, “position”, “predicts”, “strategy”, “guidance”, “intend”, “seek”, “budget”, “project” or “continue”, or the negative thereof or other comparable terminology regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they:

We believe it is important to communicate our expectations. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this prospectus and incorporated by reference into this prospectus, we caution you that these statements are based on our projections of the future that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, to differ. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and our actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and “Prospectus Summary – Our Company” set forth in this prospectus and the documents incorporated herein by reference.

Accordingly, our actual results and the timing of certain events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors and risks, including, but not limited to, those set forth under “Risk Factors,” those set forth from time to time in our other filings with the SEC, and the following factors and risks:

Any or all of our forward-looking statements may turn out to be wrong. They may be affected by inaccurate assumptions that we might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could affect future results are:

All forward-looking statements and risk factors included in this prospectus are made as of the date hereof, or in the case of documents incorporated by reference, the original date of any such documents, based on information available to us as of such date, and we assume no obligations to update any forward-looking statement or risk factor, unless we are required to do so by law. If we do update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make updates with respect to other forward-looking statements or that we will make any further updates to those forward-looking statements at any future time. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make. You should read this prospectus and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to this prospectus and incorporated by reference herein completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make.

Any of the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus could prove inaccurate and, therefore, we cannot assure you that the results or events contemplated in any of such forward-looking statements will be realized. Based on the significant uncertainties inherent in these forward-looking statements, the inclusion of any such statement should not be regarded as a representation or as a guarantee by us that our objectives or plans will be achieved, and we caution you against relying on any of the forward-looking statements contained herein.

Prospectus Summary

This summary highlights certain information about us, this offering and information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus and in the documents we incorporate by reference in this prospectus. This summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our securities. After you carefully read this summary, to fully understand our Company and this offering and its consequences to you, you should read this entire prospectus and any related free writing prospectus authorized by us, including the information referred to under the heading “Risk Factors” in this prospectus beginning on page 11,8, and any related free writing prospectus, as well as the other documents that we incorporate by reference into this prospectus, including our financial statements and the notes to those financial statements, which are incorporated herein by reference from our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2021,2023, filed on December 9, 2021, 7, 2023, as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed on December14, 2021, as further amended by Amendment No. 2 filed on January28, 2022, 26, 2024, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three month period ended December 31, 2021,2023, filed on February 10, 2022, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three and six- month periods ended March 31, 2022, filed on May 12, 2022.8, 2024. Please read “Where You Can Find More Information” on page 4124 of this prospectus.

In this prospectus, unless context requires otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” “our,” or “the Company” refer to Applied DNA Sciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries. Our Companytrademarks currently used in the United States include Applied DNA Sciences®, SigNature® molecular tags, SigNature® T molecular tags, fiberTyping®, SigNify®, Beacon®, CertainT®, Linea™ DNA, Linea™ RNAP, Linea™ COVID-19 Diagnostic Assay Kit, safeCircle® COVID-19 testing and TR8^TM pharmacogenetic testing. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies. All trademarks, service marks and trade names included in this prospectus are the property of the respective owners.

Business Overview

Applied DNA Sciences, isInc.

Company Overview

We are a biotechnology company developing and commercializing technologies to produce and detect deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) and ribonucleic acid (“RNA”). Using the polymerase chain reaction (“PCR”) to enable both the production and detection of DNA and RNA, we currently operate in three primary business markets: (i) the enzymatic manufacture of synthetic DNA for use in the production of nucleic acid-based therapeutics (including biologics and drugs) and, through our recent acquisition of Spindle Biotech, Inc. (“Spindle”), the development and sale of a proprietary RNA polymerase (“RNAP”) for use in the production of messenger RNA (“mRNA”) therapeutics (“Therapeutic DNA Production Services”); (ii) the detection of DNA and RNA in molecular diagnostics and genetic testing services (“MDx Testing Services”); and (iii) the manufacture and detection of DNA for industrial supply chain security services (“DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services”).

Our current growth strategy is to primarily focus our resources on the further development, commercialization, and customer adoption of our Therapeutic DNA Production Services, including the expansion of our contract development and manufacturing operation (“CDMO”) for the manufacture of synthetic DNA for use in the production of nucleic acid-based therapies, and the development of our own product candidates in veterinary health. To offset these development costs, we plan to leveragefurther expand and commercialize our MDx Testing Services and our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services business to generate cashflows.through genetic testing.

We will continue to update our business strategy and monitor the use of our resources regarding our various business markets. In addition, we expect that based on available opportunities and our beliefs regarding future opportunities, we will continue to modify and refine our business strategy.

Therapeutic DNA Production Services

Through our LinearRx, Inc. (“LRx”) subsidiaryLRx we are developing and commercializing the LinearDNA (“linDNA”) platform. The linDNAour Linea DNA and Linea IVT platforms.

Linea DNA Platform

Our Linea DNA platform is our core enabling technology, and enables the rapid, efficient, and large-scale cell-free manufacture of high-fidelity DNA sequences for use in the manufacturing of a broad range of nucleic acid-based therapeutics. The linDNALinea DNA platform enzymatically produces a linear form of DNA we call ‘linDNA’“LineaDNA” that is an alternative to plasmid-based DNA manufacturing technologies that have supplied the DNA used in biotherapeutics for the past 40 years.

As of the fourth quarter of calendar year 2023, there were 3,951 gene, cell and RNA therapies in development from preclinical through pre-registration stages, almost all of which use DNA in their manufacturing process. (Source: ASGCT Gene, Cell & RNA Therapy Landscape: Q4 2023 Quarterly Report). Due to what we believe are the Linea DNA platform’s numerous advantages over legacy nucleic acid-based therapeutic manufacturing platforms, we believe this large number of therapies under development represents a substantial market opportunity for the Linea DNA platform to supplant legacy manufacturing methods in the manufacture of nucleic acid-based therapies.

We believe our enzymatic linDNALinea DNA platform has numerousholds several important advantages over existing cell-based plasmid DNA manufacturing platforms. Plasmid-based DNA manufacturing is based on the complex, costly and time-consuming biological process of amplifying DNA in living bacterial cells. Once amplified, the DNA must be separated from the living cells and other process contaminants via multiple rounds of purification, adding further complexity and costs. Unlike plasmid-based DNA manufacturing, the linDNALinea DNA platform does not require living cells and instead amplifies DNA via the enzymatic process of PCR. The linDNALinea DNA platform is simple with only four ingredient inputs, and can rapidly produce very large quantities of DNA without the need for complex purification steps.

We believe the key advantages of the linDNALinea DNA platform include:

Preclinical studies conducted by the Company have shown that linDNALinea DNA is substitutable for plasmid DNA in numerous nucleic acid-based therapies, including:

Further, we believe that linDNALinea DNA is also substitutable for plasmid DNA in the following nucleic acid-based therapies:

Linea IVT Platform

The number of mRNA therapies under development is growing at a rapid rate, thanks in part to the success of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. mRNA therapeutics are produced via a process called in vitro transcription (“IVT”) that requires DNA as a starting material. As of the fourth4^th quarter of calendar 2021,2023, there were 3,483 gene, cell and RNAalmost 425 mRNA therapies under development, with the large majority of these therapies (67%) in development fromthe preclinical through pre-registration stages, almost all of which use DNA in their manufacturing process.stage (Source: ASGCT Gene, Cell & RNA Therapy Landscape: Q4 20212023 Quarterly Report). Due to what we believe areThe Company believes that the linDNA platform’s numerous advantages over legacy plasmid-based DNA manufacturing platforms, we believe this large number of therapies under developmentmRNA market is in a nascent stage that represents a substantial marketlarge growth opportunity for linDNAthe Company via the production  and supply of DNA critical starting materials and RNAP to supplant plasmid DNA in the manufacture of nucleic acid-basedproduce mRNA therapies.

Our linDNAIn August 2022, the Company launched DNA IVT templates manufactured via its Linea DNA platform and has since secured proof of concept contracts with numerous mRNA manufacturing customers. In response to this demand, the continued growth of the mRNA therapeutic market, and the unique abilities of the Linea DNA platform, the Company acquired Spindle in July 2023 to potentially increase its mRNA-related total addressable market (“TAM”).

Through our acquisition of Spindle, we recently launched our Linea IVT platform, which combines Spindle’s proprietary high-performance RNAP, now marketed by the Company as Linea RNAP, with our enzymatically produced Linea DNA IVT templates. We believe the Linea IVT platform enables our customers to make better mRNA, faster. Based on data generated by the Company, we believe the integrated Linea IVT platform offers the following advantages over conventional mRNA production to therapy developers and manufacturers:

According to the Company’s internal modeling, the ability to sell both Linea DNA IVT templates and Linea RNAP under the Linea IVT platform potentially increases the Company’s mRNA-related TAM by approximately 3x as compared to selling Linea DNA IVT templates alone, while also providing a more competitive offering to the mRNA manufacturing market. Currently, Linea RNAP is produced for the Company by a third-party CDMO located in the United States.

Manufacturing Scale-up

The Company plans to offer several quality grades of Linea DNA, each of which will have different permitted uses.

(1) Dependent on the availability of future financing.

The Company currently manufacturedmanufactures Linea DNA pursuant to Good Laboratory Practices (“GLP”) that we believe are sufficientand, is creating a fit for pre-clinical discovery and developmentpurpose manufacturing facility within our current Stony Brook, NY laboratory space capable of nucleic acid-based therapies. In addition,producing Linea DNA IVT templates under Good Manufacturing Practices (“GMP”) suitable for indirect clinical use of linDNA (i.e., where linDNA isas a critical starting material but is not incorporated into the final therapeutic product, as is the case with the production of mRNA or certain viral vectors), we believe that high-quality grade GLP linDNA is sufficient for clinical and commercial stage customers of our Therapeutic DNA Production Services. For the direct clinical use of our linDNA (i.e., nucleic acid-based therapies where our linDNA is incorporated into the final therapeutic product, asmRNA therapeutics, with a planned completion date in the productionfirst half of calendar year 2024. The Company also plans to offer Linea DNA vaccines, adoptive cell therapiesmaterials manufactured under GMP suitable for use as, or incorporation into, a biologic, drug substance and/or drug product, with availability expected during the first half of calendar year 2025, dependent upon the availability of future funding. GMP is a quality standard used globally and certain gene therapies) we believe clinicalby the U.S. Food and commercial stage customersDrug Administration (“FDA”) to ensure pharmaceutical quality.  Drug substances are the pharmaceutically active components of our Therapeutic DNA Production Services will generally require our manufacturing facilities to meet current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”). We currently do not have any manufacturing facilities that meet cGMP. We will need to develop and maintain manufacturing facilities that meet cGMP to support customers that wish to use our linDNA for direct clinical use. In the longer term, we believe that the development and maintenance of a cGMP manufacturing facility for linDNA will benefit the entirety of our Therapeutic DNA Production Services business, in both direct and indirect clinical applications.drug products.

Segment Business Strategy

Our business strategy for our Therapeutic DNA Production Services is to capitalize upon the linDNArapid growth of mRNA therapies in the near term via  our planned near term future availability of Linea DNA IVT templates manufactured under GMP, while at the same time laying the basis for additional clinical and commercial applications of Linea DNA with our future planned availability of Linea DNA manufactured under GMP suitable for use as, or incorporation into, a biologic, drug substance and/or drug product. Our current plan is: (i) through our Linea IVT platform is (i)and planned near term future GMP manufacturing capabilities for IVT templates to secure commercial-scale supply contracts with clinical and commercial mRNA and/or self-amplifying mRNA (“sa-RNA”) manufacturers for Linea DNA IVT templates and/or Linea RNAP as critical starting materials; (ii) to utilize our current GLP linDNA production capacity for non-IVT template applications to secure CDMOsupply and/or development contracts to supply linDNA towith pre-clinical therapy developers as well as clinicalthat use DNA in their therapy manufacturing, and commercial therapy developers and manufacturers that are pursuing therapeutics that require the indirect clinical use of linDNA; and (ii)(iii) upon our development of cGMP linDNAour planned future Linea DNA production facilities,under GMP suitable for use as, or incorporation into, a biologic, drug substance and/or drug product, to secure CDMOconvert existing and new Linea DNA customers into large-scale supply  contracts withto supply Linea DNA for clinical stage therapy developers and commercial manufacturesuse as, or incorporation into, a biologic, drug substance and/or drug product in a wide range of nucleic acid therapies. Until we complete our GMP facility to supply linDNAproduce DNA critical starting materials (DNA IVT templates) for direct clinical use.mRNA manufacturing, we will not be able to realize significant revenues from this business. We estimate the cost of creating the critical starting materials fit-for-purpose manufacturing facility will be approximately $1.5 million. We anticipate that the proceeds from the Offering should be sufficient to support the costs of this facility.  If we were to expand the facility to enable GMP production of Linea DNA for use as, or incorporation, into a biologic, drug substance and/or drug product, the cost may be up to approximately $7 million which would require additional funding. We anticipate that the fit-for-purpose manufacturing facility would be created within our existing laboratory space. We anticipate that a facility to enable GMP production of biologic, drug substances and/or drug products would require us to acquire additional space.

In addition, we plan to leverage our Therapeutic DNA Production Services and deep knowledge of PCR to develop and monetize, ourselves or with strategic partners, one or more linDNA-basedLinea DNA-based therapeutic or prophylactic vaccines for high-value veterinary health indications (collectively “Linea DNA Vaccines”). We currently seek to commercialize our Linea DNA Vaccines in conjunction with lipid nanoparticle (“LNP”) encapsulation to facilitate intramuscular (“IM”) administration. We have recently demonstrated in vitro and in vivo (mice studies) expression of generic reporter proteins via Linea DNA encapsulated by LNPs. For the in vivo study, successful expression of the LNP-encapsulated Linea DNA was administered and achieved via IM injection. We believe that our Linea DNA Vaccines under development provide a substantial advantage over plasmid DNA-based vaccines for the veterinary health market. Currently, we have in-licensed a therapeutic DNA vaccine candidate against canine lymphoma, which accounts for up to 24% of all cancers in canines. Our lymphoma vaccine candidate has been licensed from Takis S.R.L and EvviVax, S.R.L. for exclusive use by the Company in association with our linDNA platform, and is subject to certain commercialization milestones. We believe the linDNA platform provides a substantial advantage to the development and monetization of a therapeutic DNA vaccine against canine lymphoma.

MDx Testing Services

Through Applied DNA Clinical Labs, LLC (“ADCL”), our clinical laboratory subsidiary,ADCL, we leverage our expertise in DNA detection via PCR to provide and develop clinical molecular diagnostics (“MDx”and genetic (collectively “MDx”) testing services. ADCL is a New York State Department of Health (“NYSDOH”) Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (“CLEP”) permitted, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (“CLIA”)-certifiedNYSDOH clinical laboratory improvement amendments -permitted, clinical laboratory improvement amendments-certified laboratory which is currently permitted for virology. Permitting for genetics (molecular) is currently pending with the NYSDOH. In providing MDx testing services, ADCL employs its own or third-party molecular diagnostic tests.

UnderWe have successfully validated internally our MDxpharmacogenomics testing services ADCL provides COVID-19 testing for large populations marketed under our safeCircle^TM trademark. Leveraging ADCL’s customizable high-throughput robotic pooled testing workflow and the Cleared4 digital health platform owned and operated by Cleared4 Inc. (the “Cleared4 Platform”“PGx Testing Services”), our safeCircle testing service is an adaptable turnkey large population COVID-19 testing solution that provides for all aspects of COVID-19 testing, including test scheduling, sample collection and automated results reporting. Our safeCircle testing service utilizes high-sensitivity robotically pooled real-time PCR (“RT-PCR”) testing to help prevent virus spread by quickly identifying COVID-19 infections within a community, school, or workplace. Our safeCircle COVID-19 testing is performed using either the Company’s internally developed Linea 2.0 RT-PCR Assay, a NYSDOH conditionally approved laboratory developed test (“LDT”) or third-party emergency use authorization (“EUA”)-authorized RT-PCR COVID-19 assays. Our safeCircle testing service also incorporates the Cleared4 Platform to enable large-scale digital test scheduling, in-field sample collection and registration, and results reporting. By leveraging the combination of our robotic pooled workflows and the Cleared4 Platform, our safeCircle testing services typically return testing results within 24 to 48 hours. We provide safeCircle testing services to primary/secondary/higher education institutions, private clients, and businesses and college athletic programs primarily located in New York State.

In addition to our safeCircle testing services, we are currently developing and validating pharmacogenetics (“PGx”) testing services.. Our PGx testing servicesTesting Services will utilize a 120-target PGx panel test to evaluate the unique genotype of a specific patient to help guide individual drug therapy decisions. Our PGx testing servicesTesting Services are designed to interrogate DNA targets on over 3533 genes and provide genotyping information relevant to certain cardiac, mental health, oncology, and pain management drug therapies. We believeOur PGx Testing Services cannot commence until we receive approval from the economics of complex MDx testing services such as PGx are more favorableNYSDOH.

On March 22, 2023, we submitted our validation package to the Company as comparedNYSDOH for our PGx Testing Services. On September 21, 2023, we received a first set of comments from NYSDOH requesting additional data and clarifications. A response was submitted to high volume, low complexity MDx tests such as COVID-19 testing. OurNYSDOH on November 17, 2023.  On December 26, 2023, we received a second set of comments from NYSDOH requesting additional data and clarifications to which a response was submitted on February 23, 2024.  Currently, timing of any approval by NYSDOH for our PGx Testing Services is unclear. Recently published studies show that population-scale PGx enabled medication management can significantly reduce overall population healthcare costs, reduce adverse drug events, and increase overall population wellbeing. These benefits can result in significant cost savings to large entities and self-insured employers, the latter accounting for approximately 65% of all U.S. employers in 2022. If and when approved by the NYSDOH, we plan to leverage our PGx Testing Services to provide PGx testing services will require NYSDOH approval prior to initiatinglarge entities and self-insured employers.

Historically, the majority of our patientrevenue attributable to our MDx Testing Services has been derived from our safeCircle® COVID-19 testing services. If approved,solutions, for which testing demand has significantly dropped. While we plancontinue to commercialize our PGxsupport several safeCircle customers, we are currently observing a marked decrease in market demand for COVID-19 testing, resulting in significantly reduced revenues. We expect future demand for COVID-19 testing to continue to be reduced and we may terminate COVID-19 testing services by offering PGx clinical reference laboratory testing services to other clinical laboratories and healthcare facilities nationwide.in the future.

Going forward, our business strategy for ADCL is to leverage our deep knowledge of PCR to develop and commercialize high complexity, high value and differentiated MDx testing services that will be offered to other clinical laboratories and healthcare facilities as clinical reference laboratory testing services. We believe operating as a clinical reference laboratory has several advantages when compared to operating as a typical clinical non-reference laboratory, including:

The clinical reference laboratory services market is forecasted to have incremental growth of $26.0B between 2020 and 2025 with a 6.71% compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”). We believe that the rapidly increasing number of specialized MDx tests for early disease detection, disease prognosis, disease risk, companion diagnostics and personalized medicine will drive an increase in the demand for highly specialized MDx clinical reference laboratory services.

DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services

By leveraging our expertise in both the manufacture and detection of DNA via PCR, our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services allow our customers to use non-biologic DNA tags manufactured on our linDNALinea DNA platform to mark objects in a unique manner and then identify these objects by detecting the absence or presence of the DNA tag. We believe our DNA tags are not economically feasible nor practical to replicate, and that our disruptive tracking platform offers broad commercial relevance across many industry verticals. The Company’s core DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services, which are marketed collectively as a platform under the trademark CertainT®, include:

Our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services are fully developed, highly scalable, and currently used in several commercial applications. To date, our largest commercial application for our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services is in the tracking and provenance authentication of cotton. Cotton home textile products utilizing our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services are available in national retail chains including Costco^® and Bed Bath & Beyond^®.

We believe that theThe Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”), signed into law on December 23, 2021 may be helpful to increase demand for our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services. The UFLPA establishes a rebuttable presumption that any goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“XUAR”) of the People’s Republic of China are not entitled to entry to the United States. The presumption applies unless the importer of record has complied with specified conditions and, by clear and convincing evidence, shown that the goods were not produced using forced labor. On June 17, 2022, an implementation strategy for the UFLPA was published thatadditionally listed DNA tagging and isotopic analysis as evidence that importers may presentuse to potentially prove that a good did not originate in XUAR or did not benefit from forced labor. Approximately 20% of the world’s cotton garments contain cotton that originated in the XUAR.

Our business plan is to leverage growing consumer demandand governmental awareness for product traceability andcatalyzed by the newly enacted UFLPA to expand our existing partnerships and seek new partnerships for our DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services with a focus on cotton and synthetic fibers.cotton.

Intellectual Property

The proprietary nature of and protection for our various technologies and know-how are important to our business. Our success depends in part on our ability to protect the proprietary nature of our technologies and know-how, to operate without infringing on the proprietary rights of others and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. We seek and maintain patent protection in the United States and internationally for our various technologies associated with our three primary business markets. We endeavor to patent or in-license technology, inventions and improvements that we consider important to the development of our business. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how and continuing innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position.

Because the development of our Therapeutic DNA Production Services and MDx Testing Services businesses are at an early stage, our intellectual property portfolio with respect to certain technologies associated with these businesses are also at an early stage. As further described below, we have filed or intend to file patent applications on certain technologies associated with these business markets, and as we continue the development of our technologies, we intend to identify additional means of obtaining patent protection that would potentially enhance commercial success.

We cannot be certain that patents will be granted with respect to any of our pending patent applications or with respect to any patent applications filed by us in the future, nor can we be sure that any of our existing patents or any patents granted to us in the future will be commercially useful in protecting our technology. Any of our intellectual property and proprietary rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed or misappropriated, or such intellectual property and proprietary rights may not be sufficient to permit us to take advantage of current market trends or otherwise to provide competitive advantages. For more information, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”

As of July 1, 2022, our patent portfolio included the following issued and pending patent applications applicable to each of our three primary business markets:

In addition to patent protection, we also rely on trade secrets, know how, other proprietary information and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. In our Therapeutic DNA Production Services, we currently rely heavily on trade secret protection. We seek to protect and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary information to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection. Although we take steps to protect our proprietary information and trade secrets, including through contractual means with our employees and consultants, third parties may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or disclose our technology. Thus, we may not be able to meaningfully protect our trade secrets. It is our policy to require our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of employment or consulting relationships with us. These agreements provide that all confidential information concerning our business or financial affairs developed or made known to the individual during the course of the individual’s relationship with us is to be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific circumstances. Our agreements with employees also provide that all inventions conceived by the employee in the course of employment with us or from the employee’s use of our confidential information are our exclusive property. However, such confidentiality agreements and invention assignment agreements can be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. For more information regarding the risks related to our intellectual property, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”

The patent positions of biotechnology companies like ours are generally uncertain and involve complex legal, scientific and factual questions. Our commercial success will also depend in part on not infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. It is uncertain whether the issuance of any third party patent would require us to alter our development or commercial strategies, or our manufacturing processes, obtain licenses or cease certain activities. Our breach of any license agreements or our failure to obtain a license to proprietary rights required to develop or commercialize our future products or services may have a material adverse impact on us. If third parties prepare and file patent applications in the United States that also claim technology to which we have rights, we may have to participate in interference or derivation proceedings in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, to determine priority of invention. For more information, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”

Risk Factor Summary

This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussions of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this prospectus before making investment decisions.

Corporate HistoryCompany Information

We are a Delaware corporation, which was initially formed in 1983 under the laws of the State of Florida as Datalink Systems, Inc. In 1998, we reincorporated in the State of Nevada, and in 2002, we changed our name to our current name, Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. On December 17, 2008, we reincorporated from the State of Nevada to the State of Delaware.

Our corporate headquarters are located at the Long Island High Technology Incubator at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, where we have established laboratories for the manufacture and detection of DNAnucleic acids (DNA and mRNA) to support our various business units. In addition, this location also houses our NYSDOH CLEP-permitted, CLIA-certifiedClinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (“CLIA”)-certified clinical laboratory where we perform MDx testing.Testing Services. The mailing address of our corporate headquarters is 50 Health Sciences Drive, Stony Brook, New York 11790, and our telephone number is (631) 240-8800.

To date, we have produced limited recurring revenues from our products and services, have incurred substantial expenses and have sustained significant losses. Moreover, we have concluded that there is substantial doubtImplications of Being a Smaller Reporting Company

We are a “smaller reporting company” as to our ability to continue as a going concern and our auditors have included an explanatory paragraph to that effect in their report for the year ended September 30, 2021. Consequently, our operations are subject to all the risks inherentdefined in the establishment and developmentSecurities Exchange Act of a biotechnology company.

Available Information

Because we are subject to the information and reporting requirements of1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and have elected to take advantage of certain of the scaled disclosures available to smaller reporting companies. We will continue to be a “smaller reporting company” until we filehave $250 million or furnish, as applicable, annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is www.sec.gov. We make availablemore in public float (based on our website at www.adnas.com, freeCommon Stock) measured as of charge, copiesthe last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter or, in the event we have no public float (based on our Common Stock) or a public float (based on our Common Stock) that is less than $700 million, annual revenues of $100 million or more during the most recently completed fiscal year.

We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The informationexemptions. We have taken advantage of reduced reporting requirements in or accessible through the websites referred to above are not incorporated into, and are not considered part of, this prospectus. Further, our references toAccordingly, the URLs for these websites are intended toinformation contained herein may be inactive textual references only.different from the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold stock.

Summary of the OfferingTHE OFFERING

The number of shares of our Common Stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on the 16,978,703 shares of our Common Stock outstanding as of March 7, 2024, and excludes the following:

The discussionUnless otherwise indicated, this prospectus reflects and tables above are based on 8,982,520 shares of our common stock outstanding as of July 15, 2022, which excludes shares of our common stock that may be issued upon exercise of pre-funded warrants and common warrants issued in this offering, 1,063,143 shares of common stock issuable uponassumes no exercise of outstanding options 2,239,963 sharesand warrants. The foregoing does not reflect adjustments relating to the repricing of common stock issuable upon exercisecertain warrants. See “Warrant Repricing” beginning on page 16 of outstanding warrants, 2,778,556 shares availablethis prospectus for grant under our Equity Incentive Stock Plans, as of such date, and shares of common stock initially issuable upon the exercise of the common warrants to be issued pursuant to this prospectus.more information regarding these adjustments.

Risk FactorsRISK FACTORS

InvestmentInvesting in our securities including our common stock, common warrants, and pre-funded warrants, involves a high degree of risk. In addition to the risks and investment considerations discussed elsewhereother information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, you should carefully consider the risks described below and in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our most recent fiscal year filed with the SEC, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, any documentamendment or updates thereto reflected in subsequent filings with the SEC, and in other reports we file with the SEC that are incorporated by reference herein, or any “free writing prospectus”before making an investment decision. The following risks are presented as of the date of this prospectus and we have authorizedexpect that these will be updated from time to time in connectionour periodic and current reports filed with this offering, the following factors shouldSEC, which will be carefully consideredincorporated herein by anyone purchasingreference. Please refer to these subsequent reports for additional information relating to the securities offered by this prospectus. risks associated with investing in our securities.

The risks and uncertainties described therein and below could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition, as well as cause the value of our securities to decline. You may lose all or part of your investment as a result. You should also refer to the other information contained in this prospectus, or incorporated by reference, including our financial statements and the notes to those statements, and the information set forth under the caption “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks mentioned below. Forward-looking statements included in this prospectus are based on information available to us on the date hereof, and all forward-looking statements in documents incorporated by reference are based on information available to us as of the date of such documents. We disclaim any intent to update any forward-looking statements. The risks described below and contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other periodic reports are not the only ones that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations. We also update risk factors from time to time in our periodic reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K which will be incorporated by reference in this prospectus. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business could be harmed. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and investors could lose all or a part of their investment. All of these risks could adversely affect our business business prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.operations.

See also the statements contained under the heading “Forward-Looking Statements.”

Summary of Risks Related toAssociated with Our Business:

There is substantial doubt relating to our ability to continue as a going concern.

We have recurring net losses, which have resulted in an accumulated deficit of $290,712,648 as of March 31, 2022 and $284,122,092 as of September 30, 2021. We have incurred a net loss of $14,278,439 for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 and $6,480,708 for the six-month period ended March 31, 2022. At March 31, 2022 and September 30, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $6,512,784 and $6,554,948, respectively. We have concluded that these factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for one year from the issuance of the financial statements.

In addition, the report from our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended September 30, 2021 includes an explanatory paragraph stating that our significant losses and need to raise additional funds to meet our obligations and sustain operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. We will continue to seek to raise additional working capital through public equity, private equity or debt financings. If we fail to raise additional working capital, or do so on commercially unfavorable terms, it would materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations, and we may be unable to continue as a going concern. Future reports from our independent registered public accounting firm may also contain statements expressing substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, investors or other financing sources may be unwilling to provide additional funding to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all.

We have produced only limited revenues. This makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and increases the risk that we will not be successful.

Our operations since inception have produced limited revenues and may not produce significant revenues in the near term, or at all, which may harm our ability to obtain additional financing and may require us to reduce or discontinue our operations. You must consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we will encounter as a company operating in a rapidly evolving industry. We may not be able to successfully address these risks and difficulties, which could significantly harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our opportunities in pharmaceuticals and biologics will require substantial additional funding. We may not be successful in our efforts to create a pipeline of product candidates, to develop commercially successful products, or to develop commercially successful biologic production. If we fail to successfully identify, finance and develop product candidates and/or fail to develop commercially successful biologic production, our commercial opportunities in pharmaceuticals and biologics may be limited.

We have no pharmaceutical or biologic products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from pharmaceutical or biologic product sales. Identifying, developing, obtaining regulatory approval and commercializing pharmaceutical and biologic product candidates and biologic production will require substantial additional funding beyond our current available resources and is prone to the risks of failure inherent in drug or biologic development. Developing product candidates and biologic production is expensive, and we expect to spend substantial amounts as we fund our early-stage research projects, engage in preclinical development of early-stage programs and, in particular, advance program candidates through preclinical development and clinical trials.

Investment in pharmaceutical and biologic product development involves significant risk that any product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval, and become commercially viable. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to successfully advance any product candidates through the development process or, if approved, successfully commercialize any product candidates.

Even if we receive regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, we cannot assure you that any such product candidate will be successfully commercialized, widely accepted in the marketplace or be more effective than other commercially available alternatives.

Even if we are able to generate revenue from the sale of any approved pharmaceutical and biologic products, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our Company and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our pipeline of product candidates or continue our operations, and cause a decline in the value of our common stock, all or any of which may adversely affect our viability.

Our operating results could be adversely affected by a reduction in business with our significant customers.

Our revenue earned from the sale of product and services for the six-month period ended March 31, 2022 included an aggregate of 51% of our total revenue from one customer. At March 31, 2022, two customers accounted for an aggregate of 74% of our total accounts receivable. Our revenue earned from the sale of products and services for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 included an aggregate of 31% of our total revenues from two customers. At September 30, 2021, two customers accounted for an aggregate of 67% of our total accounts receivable. Our revenue earned from the sale of products and services for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020 included an aggregate of 46% of our total revenues from four customers. At September 30, 2020, four customers accounted for an aggregate of 74% of our total accounts receivable. Generally, our customers do not have an obligation to make purchases from us and may stop ordering our products and services or may terminate existing orders or contracts at any time with little or no financial penalty. The loss of any of our significant customers, any substantial decline in sales to these customers, or any significant change in the timing or volume of purchases by our customers could result in lower revenues and could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Fluctuations in quarterly results may cause a decline in the price of our common stock.

Our revenues and profitability are difficult to predict due to the nature of the markets in which we compete, as well as our recent entry into new markets and products, fluctuating user demand, the uncertainty of current and future global economic conditions, and for many other reasons, including that our operating results are highly dependent on the volume and timing of orders received during a quarter, which are difficult to forecast. Customers generally order on an as-needed basis and we typically do not obtain firm, long-term purchase commitments from our customers. The quarterly fluctuations in operating results described above may cause a decline in the price of our common stock.

The ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, financial markets volatility and capital markets disruption. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected by any negative impact on the capital markets resulting from the conflict in Ukraine or any other geopolitical tensions.

In late February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, significantly amplifying already existing geopolitical tensions among Russia and other countries in the region and in the west, including the United States. Russia’s invasion, the responses of countries and political bodies to Russia’s actions, the larger overarching tensions, and Ukraine’s military response and the potential for wider conflict have resulted in inflation, financial market volatility and capital markets disruption, potentially increasing in magnitude, and could have severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets and international relations. The extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial.

Third parties may use our products in ways that could damage our reputation.

After our customers have received our products, we do not have any control over their use and our customers may use them in ways that are harmful to our reputation as a supplier of synthetic DNA products. In addition, while we plan to establish a biosecurity program designed to ensure that third parties do not obtain our products for malevolent purposes, we cannot guarantee that these preventative measures, once instituted, will eliminate or reduce the risk of the domestic and global opportunities for the misuse of our products. Accordingly, in the event of such misuse, our reputation, future revenue and operating results may suffer.

Our business could be adversely impacted by inflation.

Increases in inflation may have an adverse effect on our business. Current and future inflationary effects may be driven by, among other things, supply chain disruptions and governmental stimulus or fiscal policies as well as the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Continuing increases in inflation could impact the overall demand for our products, our costs for labor, material and services, and the margins we are able to realize on our products, all of which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

We may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, and these difficulties could impair our profitability.

Currently, we are working simultaneously on multiple projects, expanding our DNA manufacturing capacity as well as targeting several market sectors, including activities in the diagnostics, therapeutics, and the product security sectors. These diversified operations and activities place significant demands on our limited resources and require us to substantially expand the capabilities of our technical, administrative, and operational resources.

If we are unable to manage this growth effectively, our shipments to our customers could be impacted, our time and resources could be diverted from other products and offerings and our business and operating results could suffer. Our ability to manage our operations and costs, including research and development, costs of components, manufacturing, sales and marketing, requires us to continue to enhance our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures and to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees. Failure to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees will further strain our human resources and could impede our growth.

Our new emphasis on Therapeutic DNA Production Services and MDx Testing Services may reduce our ability to maintain and expand our existing DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services businesses.

Our new emphasis on Therapeutic DNA Production Services and MDx Testing Services may divert funding and our limited managerial and other resources from our existing DNA Tagging and Security Products and Services businesses. This may have the effect of reducing opportunities to grow or maintain revenues in our existing businesses while at the same time we may fail to achieve the revenues and growth we seek in our Therapeutic DNA Production Services and MDx Testing Services business.

Risks Relating to Manufacturing, Development, and Industries:

If we are unable to expand our DNA manufacturing capacity, we could lose revenue and our business could suffer.

In order to expand our manufacturing capacity for our DNA production, including our linDNA platform, we need to either build additional internal manufacturing capacity, contract with one or more partners, or both. Our technology and the production process for our DNA production are complex, involving specialized parts, and we may encounter unexpected difficulties in the manufacture, improvement or increasing the capacity of our DNA production, and addressing these difficulties may cause us to divert our time and resources from our other product offerings. There is no assurance that we will be able to continue to increase manufacturing capacity internally or that we will find one or more suitable partners to help us towards this objective, in order to meet the volume and quality requirements necessary for success in our existing and potential markets. Manufacturing and product quality issues may arise as we continue to increase the scale of our production. If our DNA manufacturing equipment and tools do not consistently produce DNA products that meet our customers’ performance expectations, our reputation may be harmed, and we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to become profitable. Any delay or inability in expanding our manufacturing capacity could diminish our ability to develop or sell our DNA products, which could result in lost revenue and materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Rapidly changing technology and extensive competition in synthetic DNA could make the services or products we are developing obsolete or non-competitive unless we continue to develop and manufacture new and improved services or products and pursue new market opportunities.

The synthetic DNA industry is characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product introductions and enhancements and evolving industry demands and standards. Our future success will depend on our ability to continually improve the services we are developing and producing, to develop and introduce new services that address the evolving needs of our customers on a timely and cost-effective basis and to pursue new market opportunities that develop as a result of technological and scientific advances. These new market opportunities may be outside the scope of our proven expertise or in areas which have unproven market demand, and the utility and value of new products and services developed by us may not be accepted in the markets served by the new services. Our inability to gain market acceptance of existing products and services in new markets or market acceptance of new products and services could harm our future operating results. Our future success also depends on our ability to manufacture these new and improved products and services to meet customer demand in a timely and cost-effective manner, including our ability to resolve manufacturing issues that may arise as we commence production of any new products and services we develop.

In addition, there is extensive competition in the synthetic DNA industry, and our future success will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive position with respect to technological advances. Technological development by others may result in our technologies, as well as products developed using our technologies, becoming obsolete. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies and services that are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than our competitors’ technologies and products. Our competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time.

Pharmaceutical and biologic products and services are highly complex, and if we or our collaborators and customers are unable to provide quality and timely offerings to our respective customers, our business could suffer.

The process of manufacturing pharmaceutical and biologics and their components is complex, highly-regulated and subject to multiple risks.

Manufacturing biologics is highly susceptible to product loss due to contamination, equipment failure, improper installation or operation of equipment, vendor or operator error, inconsistency in yields, variability in product characteristics and difficulties in scaling the production process. Even minor deviations from normal manufacturing processes could result in reduced production yields, product defects and other supply disruptions.

Our ability to generate revenue in the pharmaceutical and biologic market depends on our ability to manufacture products that meet exacting quality and safety standards. If we are unable to manufacture these products to the required levels, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations and may subject us to regulatory actions, including product recalls, product seizures, injunctions to halt manufacture or distribution, restrictions on our operations, or civil sanctions, including monetary sanctions and criminal actions. In addition, we could be subject to costly litigation, including claims from our collaborators and customers for reimbursement for the cost of our products or other related losses, the cost of which could be significant.

We will need to develop and maintain manufacturing facilities that meet current Good Manufacturing Practices.

Since a primary focus of our business will be contract manufacturing of synthetic DNA, it will be critical for us to be able to produce sufficient quantities of materials required for the manufacture of our product candidates or the product candidates of our collaborators or customers for preclinical testing and clinical trials, in compliance with applicable regulatory and quality standards. If we are unable to provide such manufacturing supplies or fail to do so on commercially-reasonable terms, we may not be able to successfully produce sufficient supply of product candidate(s) or we may be delayed in doing so. Such failure or substantial delay could materially harm our business.

Our customers will rely on us for synthetic DNA and other biological materials that are used in their discovery and development programs. These materials can be difficult to produce and occasionally have variability from the product specifications. Any disruption in the supply of these biological materials consistent with our product specifications could materially adversely affect our business. Although we have control processes and screening procedures, biological materials are susceptible to damage and contamination and may contain active pathogens. We may also have lower yields in manufacturing batches, which can increase our costs and slow our development timelines. Improper storage of these materials, by us or any third-party storage facilities, may require us to destroy some of our biological raw materials or product candidates.

We also face risks that we may fail to synthesize and manufacture our customers’ product candidates in accordance with their product specifications, and the possibility of termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by our customers at a time that is costly or damaging to us.

In addition, the FDA and other regulatory authorities require that our products be manufactured according to cGMP and similar foreign standards relating to methods, facilities, and controls used in the manufacturing, processing, and packing of the product, which are intended to ensure that biological products are safe and that they consistently meet applicable requirements and specifications.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to register their facilities and list their products manufactured after beginning drug manufacturing and then annually thereafter with the FDA and certain state and foreign agencies. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve our customers’ product candidates at any of our proposed contract manufacturer’s facilities, or if we fail to maintain a compliance status acceptable to the FDA or a comparable foreign authority, our customers may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to supply our customers’ product candidates, if approved. Any discovery of problems with a product, or a manufacturing or laboratory facility used by us or our strategic partners, may result in restrictions on the product or on the manufacturing or laboratory facility, including marketed product recall, suspension of manufacturing, product seizure, or a voluntary withdrawal of the drug from the market. We may have little to no control regarding the occurrence of such incidents.

If we were unable to provide a solution in time, our customers’ clinical trials could be delayed, thereby limiting our commercial activities associated with those products. The sale of our customers’ products could contain other defects could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any failure by us or another third-party manufacturers to comply with cGMP or failure to scale up manufacturing processes, including any failure to deliver sufficient quantities of product candidates in a timely manner, could lead to a delay in, or failure to obtain, regulatory approval of any of our customers’ candidates and, therefore, affect our business.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are also subject to extensive pre- and post-marketing oversight by the FDA and comparable regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions where the product is being studied or marketed, which include periodic unannounced and announced inspections by the FDA to assess compliance with cGMP requirements. If an FDA inspection of our facilities reveals conditions that the FDA determines not to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, the FDA may issue observations through a Notice of Inspectional Observations or a “Form FDA 483”. If observations in the Form FDA 483 are not addressed in a timely manner and to the FDA’s satisfaction, the FDA may issue a Warning Letter or pursue other forms of enforcement action. Any failure by us or another contract manufacturers to comply with cGMP or to provide adequate and timely corrective actions in response to deficiencies identified in a regulatory inspection could result in enforcement action that could impact our ability to attract and maintain other contract manufacturing arrangements or lead to a shortage of our customers’ products and harm our business, including withdrawal of approvals previously granted, seizure, injunction or other civil or criminal penalties. The failure of us or another manufacturer to address any concerns raised by the FDA or foreign regulators could also lead to plant shutdown or the delay or withholding of product approval by the FDA in additional indications, or by foreign regulators in any indication. Certain countries may impose additional requirements on the manufacturing of drug products or drug substances, on us as contract manufacturers, as part of the regulatory approval process for products in such countries. The failure by us or other third-party manufacturers to satisfy such requirements could impact our ability to obtain or maintain contract manufacturing arrangements with our customers in one or more countries.Business

Our business also depends on the ability of our collaborators and customers to manufacture the pharmaceutical or biologic products that incorporate our products. If the FDA determines that our collaborators and customers are not in compliance with FDA laws and regulations, including those governing cGMP regulations, the FDA may deny New Drug Application (“NDA”) or Biologics License Application (“BLA”) approval until the deficiencies are corrected. Even if our collaborators or customers obtain regulatory approval for any of their product candidates, there is no assurance that they will be able to manufacture the approved product to specifications acceptable to the FDA or other regulatory authorities, to produce it in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the potential launch of the product or to meet potential future demand. If our collaborators or customers are unable to produce sufficient quantities for clinical trials or for commercialization, commercialization efforts would be impaired, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

Pharmaceutical and biologic-related revenue will be dependent on our collaborators’ and customers’ demand for our manufacturing services.

The amount of customer spending on pharmaceutical and biologic development and manufacturing will have an impact on our sales and profitability in the pharmaceutical and biologic market. Our collaborators and customers determine the amounts that they will spend based upon, among other things, available resources, access to capital, and their need to develop new products, which, in turn, are dependent upon a number of factors, including their competitors’ research, development and product initiatives and the anticipated market uptake, and clinical and reimbursement scenarios for specific products and therapeutic areas. Consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biologic industry may impact such spending as customers integrate acquired operations, including R&D departments and manufacturing operations. Any reduction in spending on pharmaceutical and biotechnology development and related services as a result of these and other factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our safeCircle^TM COVID-19 testing service could become obsolete or its utility could be significantly diminished.

Surveillance testing is not regulated by the FDA and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has stated that CLIA certification is not required to conduct surveillance testing. ADCL is offering its safeCircle^TM surveillance testing in compliance with current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), FDA, CMS and NYSDOH recommendations. The regulatory framework or recommendations regarding COVID-19 Surveillance Testing could change at any time. In addition, our pooled COVID-19 screening testing is conducted via a NYSDOH conditionally approved LDT. In the event that NYSDOH revokes the conditional approval or declines to fully approve the LDT, ADCL will be required to utilize a third-party EUA-authorized COVID-19 assay and potentially stop utilizing pooled testing.

Further, our COVID-19 testing may become obsolete for a variety of reasons, including an end to the current pandemic, mutations in the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or the development and widespread distribution of a vaccine, including the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for which the FDA has granted emergency use authorization or approval. In addition, the utility of these services will also diminish if positivity rates reach levels high enough to render surveillance testing ineffective or inefficient.

We have limited experience producing and supplying our products. We may be unable to consistently manufacture or source our products to the necessary specifications or in quantities necessary to meet demand on a timely basis and at acceptable performance and cost levels.

As we continue to scale commercially and develop new products, and as our products incorporate increasingly sophisticated technology, it will become more difficult to ensure our products are produced in the necessary quantities while maintaining quality. There is no assurance that we or our third-party manufacturers will be able to continue to manufacture our products so that our technology consistently achieves the product specifications and produces results with acceptable quality. Any future design issues, unforeseen manufacturing problems, such as contamination of our or our manufacturers’ facilities, equipment malfunctions, aging components, quality issues with components and materials sourced from third-party suppliers, or failures to strictly follow procedures or meet specifications, may have a material adverse effect on our brand, business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition and could result in us or our third-party manufacturers losing International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or quality management certifications. If our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain ISO quality management certifications, our customers might choose not to purchase products from us.

In addition, as we scale our commercial operations, we will also need to make corresponding improvements to other operational functions, such as our customer support, service and billing systems, compliance programs and internal quality assurance programs. We cannot assure you that any increases in scale, related improvements and quality assurance will be successfully implemented or that appropriate personnel will be available. As we develop additional products, we may need to bring new equipment online, implement new systems, technology, controls and procedures and hire personnel with different qualifications.

An inability to manufacture products and components that consistently meet specifications, in necessary quantities, at commercially acceptable costs and without significant delays, may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We must continue to secure and maintain sufficient and stable supplies of components and raw materials.

Certain disruptions in supply of, and changes in the competitive environment for, components and raw materials integral to the manufacturing of our products may adversely affect our profitability. We use a broad range of materials and supplies in our products. A significant disruption in the supply of these materials could decrease production and shipping levels, materially increase our operating costs and materially and adversely affect our revenues and profit margins. Shortages of materials or interruptions in transportation systems, labor strikes, work stoppages, war, acts of terrorism or other interruptions to or difficulties in the employment of labor or transportation in the markets in which we purchase materials, components and supplies for the production of our products, in each case, may adversely affect our ability to maintain production of our products and achieve profitability. Unforeseen discontinuation or unavailability of certain components, such as enzymes or nucleotides, each of which we currently primarily source from single supplier, could cause backorders as we modify our product specifications to accommodate replacement components. If we were to experience a significant or prolonged shortage of critical components from any of our suppliers and could not procure the components from other sources, we would be unable to manufacture our products and ship them to our customers in a timely fashion, or at all, which would adversely affect our sales, margins and customer relations.

The markets for our drug and biologic candidates and synthetic DNA are very competitive, and we may be unable to continue to compete effectively in these industries in the future.

The principal markets for our drug and biologic candidates and synthetic DNA are intensely competitive. We compete with many existing suppliers and new competitors continue to enter the market. Many of our competitors, both in the United States and elsewhere, are major pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology companies, or have strategic alliances with such companies, and many of them have substantially greater capital resources, marketing experience, research and development staff, and facilities than we do. Any of these companies could succeed in developing products that are more effective than the product candidates that we have or may develop and may be more successful than us in producing and marketing their existing products. Some of our competitors that operate in the nucleic-acid based therapeutic, biologics and DNA manufacturing markets include: Precigen, Inc., Aldevron, LLC, Cobra Biologics, Limited, Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., 4basebio PLC, Ziopharm Oncology, Inc., MaxCyte, Inc., Touchlight Genetics Ltd., Generation Bio, Co., Novartis AG, Kite Pharma, Inc., Juno Therapeutics, Inc., Promega Corporation, OriGene Technologies, Inc., Blue Heron Biotech, LLC, Gene Art, GenScript Biotech Corporation, and others.

We expect this competition to continue and intensify in the future. Our competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our commercial opportunities could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize drug and biologic candidates or other forms of therapeutic DNA that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any drug and biologic candidates and linearDNA that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Additionally, drug and biologic candidates and other forms of therapeutic DNA developed by our competitors may render our potential drug and biologic candidates and linear DNA uneconomical or obsolete, and we may not be successful in marketing any drug and biologic candidates and linearDNA we may develop against competitors.

If any of these risks occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be significantly harmed.

The markets for our supply chain security and product authentication solutions are very competitive, and we may be unable to continue to compete effectively in these industries in the future.

The principal markets for our supply chain security and product authentication offerings are intensely competitive. We compete with many existing suppliers and new competitors continue to enter the market. Many of our competitors, both in the United States and elsewhere, are major pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology companies, or have strategic alliances with such companies, and many of them have substantially greater capital resources, marketing experience, research and development staff, and facilities than we do. Any of these companies could succeed in developing products that are more effective than the products that we have or may develop and may be more successful than us in producing and marketing their existing products. Some of our competitors that operate in the supply chain security and product authentication markets include: AlpVision Sa, Authentix, Inc., Brandwatch Technologies, Inc., Chromologic LLC, Collectors Universe, Inc., DataDot Technology Limited, De La Rue Plc., Digimarc Corporation, DNA Technologies, Inc., Haelixa Ltd., ICA Bremen GmbH, IEH Corporation, Informium AG, opSec Security Group plc., MicroTag Temed Ltd., Nanotech Security Corp., Nokomis, Inc., Oritain Global Limited, SafeTraces, Inc., Selectamark Security Systems plc, SmartWater Technology, Inc., Sun Chemical Corporation, TraceTag International Ltd., TruTag Technologies, Inc., Tailorlux gmbH and YottaMark, Inc.

We expect this competition to continue and intensify in the future.

We compete with life science, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, some of whom are our customers, who are substantially larger than we are and potentially capable of developing new approaches that could make our products and technology obsolete or develop their own internal capabilities that compete with our products.

The market for biologics components products and services in the biopharmaceutical development, life science research, and diagnostics space is intensely competitive, rapidly evolving, significantly affected by new product introductions and other market activities by industry participants and subject to rapid technological change. We also expect increased competition as additional companies enter our market and as more advanced technologies become available. We compete with other providers of outsourced biologics components products and services. We also compete with the in-house discovery, development and commercial manufacturing functions of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Many of our competitors, which in some cases are also our customers, are large, well-capitalized companies with significantly greater resources and market share than we have. They may undertake their own development of products that are substantially similar to or compete with our products and they may succeed in developing products that are more effective or less costly than any that we may develop. These competitors may be able to spend more aggressively on product and service development, marketing, sales and other initiatives than we can. Many of these competitors also have:

These factors, among others, may enable our competitors to market their products and services at lower prices or on terms more advantageous to customers than we can offer. Competition may result in price reductions, reduced gross margins and loss of market share, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and prospects. Additionally, our current and future competitors, including certain of our customers, may at any time develop additional products and services that compete with our products and new approaches by these competitors may make our products, technologies and methodologies obsolete or noncompetitive. We may not be able to compete effectively against these organizations.

In addition, to develop and market our new products, services, technologies and methodologies successfully, we must accurately assess and meet customers’ needs, make significant capital expenditures, optimize our development and manufacturing processes to predict and control costs, hire, train and retain the necessary personnel, increase customer awareness and acceptance of such services, provide high quality services in a timely manner, price our products and services competitively and effectively integrate customer feedback into our business planning. If we fail to create demand for our new products, services or technologies, our future business could be harmed.

The animal health industry is highly competitive.

The animal health industry is highly competitive. Our competitors include standalone animal health businesses, the animal health businesses of large pharmaceutical companies, specialty animal health businesses and companies that mainly produce generic products. We believe many of our competitors are conducting R&D activities in areas in which we are developing products. Several new start-up companies also compete in the animal health industry. We also face competition from manufacturers of drugs globally, as well as producers of nutritional health products. These competitors may have access to greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources. As a result, they may be able to devote more resources to developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling their products, initiating or withstanding substantial price competition or more readily taking advantage of acquisitions or other opportunities. Further, consolidation in the animal health industry could result in existing competitors realizing additional efficiencies or improving portfolio bundling opportunities, thereby potentially increasing their market share and pricing power, which could lead to a decrease in our revenue and profitability and an increase in competition. For example, many of our competitors have relationships with key distributors and, because of their size, the ability to offer attractive pricing incentives, which may negatively impact or hinder our relationships with these distributors. In addition to competition from established market participants, new entrants to the animal health medicines and vaccines industry could substantially reduce our market share, render our products obsolete or disrupt our business model.

To the extent that any of our competitors are more successful with respect to any key competitive factor, or we are forced to reduce, or are unable to raise, the price of any of our products in order to remain competitive, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Competitive pressure could arise from, among other things, more favorable safety and efficacy product profiles, limited demand growth or a significant number of additional competitive products being introduced into a particular market, price reductions by competitors, the ability of competitors to capitalize on their economies of scale, the ability of competitors to produce or otherwise procure animal health products at lower costs than us and the ability of competitors to access more or newer technology than us.

Our research and development efforts for new products may be unsuccessful.

We incur research and development expenses to develop new products and technologies in an effort to maintain our competitive position in a market characterized by rapid rates of technological advancement. Our research and development efforts are subject to unanticipated delays, expenses and technical problems. There can be no assurance that any of these products or technologies will be successfully developed or that, if developed, will be commercially successful. In the event that we are unable to develop commercialized products from our research and development efforts or we are unable or unwilling to allocate amounts beyond our currently anticipated research and development investment, we could lose our entire investment in these new products and technologies. Any failure to translate research and development expenditures into successful new product introduction could have an adverse effect on our business.

In addition, research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical and biologic products is inherently risky. We cannot give any assurance that any of our pharmaceutical and biologic product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property:

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products, services and brand.

Our patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and all of our other intellectual property rights are important assets for us. There are events that are outside of our control that pose a threat to our intellectual property rights as well as to our products and services. For example, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services are distributed. The efforts we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be sufficient or effective. Any significant impairment of our intellectual property rights could harm our business or our ability to compete. Protecting our intellectual property rights is costly and time consuming. Any increase in the unauthorized use of our intellectual property could make it more expensive to do business and harm our operating results. Although we seek to obtain patent protection for our innovations, it is possible we may not be able to protect all or some of these innovations. Given the costs of obtaining patent protection, we may choose not to protect certain innovations that later turn out to be important. There is always the possibility that the scope of the protection gained from one of our issued patents will be insufficient or deemed invalid or unenforceable. We also seek to maintain certain intellectual property as trade secrets. The secrecy could be developed independently, compromised by third parties, or disclosed, intentionally or accidentally, by our employees which would cause us to lose the competitive advantage resulting from these trade secrets.

Intellectual property litigation could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights is extensive in the drug and biotechnology industry. In the event of an intellectual property dispute, we may be forced to litigate. This litigation could involve proceedings instituted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the International Trade Commission, as well as proceedings brought directly by affected third parties. Intellectual property litigation can be extremely expensive, and these expenses, as well as the consequences should we not prevail, could seriously harm our business.

If a third party claims an intellectual property right to technology we use, we might need to discontinue an important product or product line, alter our products and processes, pay license fees or cease our affected business activities. Although we might under these circumstances attempt to obtain a license to this intellectual property, we may not be able to do so on favorable terms, or at all. Furthermore, a third party may claim that we are using inventions covered by the third party’s patent rights and may go to court to stop us from engaging in our normal operations and activities, including making or selling our products. These lawsuits are costly and could affect our results of operations and divert the attention of managerial and technical personnel. A court may decide that we are infringing the third party’s patents and would order us to stop the activities covered by the patents. In addition, a court may order us to pay the other party damages for having violated the other party’s patents. The drug and biotechnology industry has produced a proliferation of patents, and it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of use. The coverage of patents is subject to interpretation by the courts,numerous risks and the interpretation is not always uniform. If we are sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrateuncertainties that you should consider before investing in our products or methods of use either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant patent and/or that the patent claims are invalid, and we may not be able to do this. Proving invalidity, in particular, is difficult since it requires a showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued patents.Company.

Because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until eighteen months after filing, and because publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications for technology covered by our or our licensor’s issued patents or pending applications or that we or our licensors were the first to invent the technology. During the ordinary course of our business, we do not conduct “prior art” searches before filing a patent application. Our competitors may have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications covering technology similar to ours. Any such patent application may have priority over our or our licensors’ patent applications and could further require us to obtain rights to issued patents covering such technologies. If another party has filed a United States patent application on inventions similar to ours, we may have to participate in an interference proceeding declared by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention in the United States. The costs of these proceedings could be substantial, and it is possible that such efforts would be unsuccessful, resulting in a loss of our United States patent position with respect to such inventions.

Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

A cybersecurity incident and other technology disruptions could negatively affect our business and our relationships with customers.

We use technology in substantially all aspects of our business operations. The widespread use of technology, including mobile devices, cloud computing, and the internet, give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breach, espionage, system disruption, theft and inadvertent release of information. Our business involves the storage and transmission of numerous classes of sensitive and/or confidential information and intellectual property, including information relating to customers and suppliers, private information about employees, and financial and strategic information about us and our business partners. If we fail to effectively assess and identify cybersecurity risks associated with the use of technology in our business operations, we may become increasingly vulnerable to such risks. Additionally, while we have implemented measures to prevent security breaches and cyber incidents, our preventative measures and incident response efforts may not be entirely effective. The theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, or release of sensitive and/or confidential information or intellectual property, or interference with our information technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely, could result in business disruption, negative publicity, brand damage, violation of privacy laws, loss of customers, potential liability and competitive disadvantage.