Senesco Technologies reports fiscal 2003 financial results

New Brunswick, New Jersey
September 30, 2003

Senesco Technologies, Inc. ("Senesco" or the "Company") (AMEX:SNT) today reported financial results for the 12 months ended June 30, 2003. Highlights of the fiscal year and subsequent months include:

  • The Company and its joint venture partner, Rahan Meristem, Ltd., announced positive results from their banana field trials. The trials indicated that Senesco's proprietary technology dramatically extends the shelf-life of banana fruit.
  • Senesco announced that pre-clinical experiments indicated that the Company's patent-pending Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 5A1 ("Factor 5A") gene may regulate the inflammatory proteins known as cytokines. This discovery may yield a new approach to inflammatory disease research and treatment.
  • Senesco and its partner, Harris Moran Seed Company, reduced and delayed the browning in cut lettuce using proprietary technology that slows the onset of cell death.
  • The Company received its first U.S. patent for DHS and Factor 5A, allowing the implementation of its technology with partners and licensees while protecting its intellectual property.
  • Pre-clinical studies revealed that inhibiting the expression of Factor 5A has been shown to reduce apoptosis of human lamina cribrosa cells in the optic nerve head of human eyes. Apoptosis of the optic nerve is a critical factor leading to blindness in glaucoma patients.
  • At the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, pre-clinical studies showed that Factor 5A was correlated in ischemic heart tissue to two cytokines, interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-18 ("IL-1" and "IL-18"). IL-1 is associated with a variety of inflammatory diseases and IL-18 has been reported to cause apoptosis.
  • The Company signed a Development and License Agreement with Cal/West Seeds, which enabled Cal/West to incorporate Senesco's technology into the enhanced proprietary alfalfa varieties being developed by Cal/West.
  • Pre-clinical findings showed that Factor 5A killed human cancer cells in experiments performed with cell lines derived from tumors.
  • The Company signed a Development and Option Agreement with ArborGen(TM), LLC, enabling ArborGen(TM) to incorporate Senesco's technology into the enhanced forestry products being developed by ArborGen.

"We took several important steps over the past fiscal year toward our goal of building an emerging functional genomics company," stated Bruce Galton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senesco. "We conducted several successful pre-clinical studies that utilized our DHS and Factor 5A gene technology in mammalian cell research, illustrating the technology's potential in treating a variety of disease states. On the agricultural side, we signed exclusive license and development agreements that have already resulted in positive field trial results for large-market crops such as lettuce and bananas. We continue to pursue discussions with potential partners for use of our technology in other agricultural crops."

Mr. Galton continued, "Several key steps were taken over this past fiscal year toward finalizing our letter of intent with the Tianjin Academy of China. Discussions have been held with representatives from the Academy, as well as government representatives from the city of Tianjin and from a central government department of China. We have also initiated discussions with biotechnology companies based in China in an effort to secure the necessary financing for the proposed agreement with the Academy and to commercialize the seeds developed with our technology under the proposed license or to pursue direct development with potential commercial partners." Mr. Galton concluded, "The process will take longer than we originally expected given the additional parties involved; however, we are diligently and actively engaged in discussions for the potential opportunity of commercializing our technology in China."

Fiscal Year 2003 Results

The Company reported a net loss of $2,066,338, or $0.17 per share, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003. This compares with a net loss of $1,939,419, or $0.20 per share, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. As of June 30, 2003, Senesco had cash, cash equivalents and investment securities totaling approximately $2.4 million, and working capital of approximately $2.2 million.

The Company had revenues of $10,000 and $200,000 for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2003 and 2002, respectively, which represented the initial payments in connection with various license and development agreements.

Total operating expenses for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, decreased to $2,278,606 from $2,314,233 in the prior year. The decrease of $35,627, or 1.5%, was primarily the result of a decrease in stock-based compensation, which was mostly offset by an increase in general and administrative and research and development expenses.

Research and development expenses for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, were $793,903, an increase of $423,712, or 114.5%, compared with $370,191 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. The increase is attributable to additional research and development costs incurred in connection with expanded research undertaken by the University of Waterloo, the implementation of mammalian cell research programs and new plant research being conducted.

General and administrative expenses for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003, were $1,347,526, an increase of $38,670, or 3.0%, compared with $1,308,856 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. The increase is primarily the result of an increase in payroll, benefits and investor relations, which was partially offset by a decrease in consulting services, recruiting costs and legal fees.

Senesco takes its name from the scientific term for the aging of plant cells: "senescence." The Company has developed technology that regulates the onset of cell death. Delaying cell breakdown in plants extends freshness after harvesting, while increasing crop yields, plant size and resistance to environmental stress for flowers, fruits and vegetables. The Company believes that its technology can be used to develop superior strains of crops without any modification other than delaying natural plant senescence. Senesco has begun to explore ways to trigger or delay cell death in mammals (apoptosis) to determine if the technology is applicable in human medicine. Accelerating apoptosis may have applications to the development of cancer treatments. Delaying apoptosis may have applications to certain diseases such as Alzheimer's, glaucoma, ischemia and arthritis, among others. Senesco partners with leading-edge companies and earns research and development fees for applying its gene-regulating platform technology to enhance its partners' products. Senesco is headquartered in New Brunswick, and utilizes research laboratories at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and the University of Colorado in Denver, Colorado.

News release
6669

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