WILLOW AND KALSEC ADVANCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR NEW NATURAL FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENT FOR SAVORY FOODS

Program further validates Willow's technology and focus on commercial execution and aligns with its strategic focus on near term revenue generation

KALAMAZOO, Mich. and SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Willow Biosciences Inc. ("Willow") (TSX: WLLW) (OTCQB: CANSF), a leading biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing industrial manufacturing of pure, consistent and sustainable functional ingredients, and Kalsec^® Inc. ("Kalsec"), a leading global producer of natural taste and sensory, food protection, colors and advanced hops ingredients for the food and beverage industry, announce they are advancing their functional ingredient development program for a large volume savory foods opportunity.

After a successful phase one feasibility program that applied Willow's BioOxi™ platform exceeded expectations, Kalsec has agreed to continue full development toward commercialization that includes additional R&D and scale-up work. Willow expects to continue generating revenue from research fees and milestones, aligning with its strategic focus on near-term revenue generation on programs bringing commercial revenue in reasonable timeframes, with anticipated ongoing negotiation of commercial terms as the program advances.

"We appreciate the trust Kalsec has in Willow to help with their innovation pathway and are delighted to partner with them on this next step in our engagement on ingredient development," said Dr. Chris Savile, Willow's President & CEO. "Looking forward, we are excited by the opportunity to engage with Kalsec's extraordinary team in bringing to market what could potentially be a number of sustainably sourced innovative ingredients that favorably enhance customers' products and the consumer experience."

"Willow has proven its capabilities repeatedly during our engagement over the last few months and we anticipate a long partnership as the result of our success working together," said Dr. Roger Nahas, Executive Vice President of Global R&D and Chief Innovation Officer at Kalsec. "Toward that end, our team has identified a number of savory food and beverage ingredient targets where we can potentially engage with Willow to help bring the best products possible to Kalsec's customers with a keen focus on market-leading innovation and sustainability."

Kalsec^® Inc provides innovative taste and sensory, natural food protection, natural colors and advanced hops solutions to the food and beverage industries. We capture the best nature has to offer and utilize over 60 years of experience and industry leading innovation to make food and beverage products look better, taste better and last longer. Family owned and headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan since 1958, Kalsec has regional offices, laboratories and sales teams in North America, Europe, and Asia. As a certified B Corp, Kalsec makes ethical and sustainable decisions that serve our customers, employees, communities, and the environment. For more information about Kalsec's portfolio of solutions and its commitment to unlocking the potential of people, nature, and science to nourish the world, visit www.kalsec.com

Willow develops and produces precision fermented functional ingredients for the health and wellness, food and beverage and personal care markets. Willow's FutureGrown™ biotechnology platform allows large-scale production with sustainability at its core. Willow's R&D team has a proven track record of developing and commercializing bio-based manufacturing processes and products to benefit our B2B partners and their customers. For more information, visit www.willowbio.com.

FutureGrown™ and BioOxi™ are registered trademarks of Willow Biosciences Inc. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective holders.

This news release may include forward-looking statements including opinions, assumptions, estimates and the assessment of future plans and operations of Willow and Kalsec, and, more particularly, statements concerning: the development programs involving the companies, including the ability to accommodate new programs and to expand capabilities; revenue generation for Willow and the timing thereof; the demand and market size potential of the synthetic ingredients industry; and the business plan of Willow, generally, including becoming a leader in precision fermentation, research and production of functional ingredients. When used in this news release, the words "will," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intent," "may," "project," "should," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Willow which include, but are not limited to: the success of Willow's strategic partnerships, including the development of future strategic partnerships; the financial strength of Willow; the ability of Willow to fund its business plan using cash on hand and existing resources; the market for Willow's products; the ability of Willow to obtain and retain applicable licenses; the ability of Willow to obtain suitable manufacturing partners and other strategic relationships; and the successful implementation of Willow's commercialization and production strategy, generally. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties, and although Willow and Kalsec believe that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of important factors could cause actual results biotechnology industry in general; the success of Willow's research and development strategies; infringement on intellectual property; failure to benefit from partnerships or successfully integrate acquisitions; actions and initiatives of federal, state and provincial governments and changes to government policies and the execution and impact of these actions, initiatives and policies; competition from other industry participants; adverse U.S., Canadian and global economic conditions; adverse global events and public-health crises,; failure to comply with certain regulations; departure of key management personnel or inability to attract and retain talent; and other factors more fully described from time to time in the reports and filings made by Willow with securities regulatory authorities. Please refer to Willow's most recent annual information form and management's discussion and analysis for additional risk factors relating to Willow, which can be accessed either on Willow's website at www.willowbio.com or under Willow's profile on www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and Willow and Kalsec do not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Willow Biosciences Inc.