Awakn Life Sciences Reports Strong Q2 2022 Results

 Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (NEO: AWKN | OTCQB: AWKNF | FSE: 954), a biotechnology company, researching, developing, and commercializing therapeutics to treat addiction with a near-term focus on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), announced today its financial results and business highlights for the three months ended July 31, 2022. All results are reported under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) and in Canadian dollars (“CAD”), unless otherwise specified.

n R&D we have been approved for 66% grant funding for our Phase III clinical trial as part of our lead program, Project Kestrel. We have also made excellent progress in strengthening the IP moats for our ketamine and MDMA programs, including the recently announced feasibility study for a novel formulation and optimized route of administration for MDMA with Catalent.

In Commercialization, our clinics have also delivered excellent growth over this quarter driving a 34% QoQ increase in revenue during the seasonally quietest period of the year for our services. We have also successfully launched our licensing partnership business into the US and Canada, putting us in the unique position of being a biotech with commercial operations in four territories, the U.K., the U.S., Canada and Norway, in only our second full financial year.”

Awakn is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement financing to raise gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000 (the “Offering“) through the issuance of up to 5,454,546 units (the “Units“) at a price of $0.55 per Unit, and that is has closed the first tranche of the Offering issuing 1,880,454 Units for gross proceeds of $1,034,250 (the “First Tranche“). To date, the Company has also received commitments to subscribe for an additional 3,090,909 Units, which are pending receipt of final documentation, for potential additional proceeds of $1,700,000. However, there can be no assurance that any additional tranches on the Offering will be completed.

Each Unit is comprised of one common share (each, a “Common Share“) in the capital of the Company and one Common Share purchase warrant (each, a “Warrant“). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.68 per Common Share until the date that is twenty-four (24) months from the date of issuance.

All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. Gross proceeds raised from the Offering will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act“) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons as defined under applicable United States securities laws unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

The First Tranche constituted a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101“) as Professor David Nutt, and Jonathan Held, related parties to the Company under MI 61-101, subscribed for an aggregate of 85,000 Units. The Company is relying on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as the fair market value of the participation in the Offering by the related parties does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Company in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report in respect of the related party transaction at least 21 days before the closing of the of the First Tranche, which the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances in order to complete the First Tranche in an expeditious manner.

In connection with the First Tranche, the Company paid certain eligible persons (the “Finders“) a cash commission in total of $32,010 and issued a total of 53,200 non-transferable finders warrants (“Finder Warrants“). Each Finder Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share for a period of two years from the date of issuance at a price of $0.68 per Common Share.

Awakn Life Sciences Corp. is a revenue-generating biotechnology company researching, developing, and commercialising therapeutics to treat substance and behavioral addictions. Awakn has a near-term focus on Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), a condition affecting 400m people globally for which the current standard of care is inadequate. Our goal is to provide effective therapeutics to addiction sufferers in desperate need and our strategy is focused on commercializing our R&D pipeline across multiple channels.

Project Kestrel is the lead clinical development program of Awakn Life Sciences. Project Kestrel is supported by Awakn’s Phase II a/b ‘KARE’ clinical trial which examined ketamine-assisted therapy for the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The trial resulted in patients experiencing on average 86% abstinence at 6 months post treatment versus 2% before the trial which means that study participants went from being sober on average 7 days a year to being sober on average 314 days a year. Awakn is planning to initiate a Phase III trial in the UK in 2022 and plans to seek regulatory approval in the UK and the US in due course.