Good afternoon, and welcome to the Cibus Second Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note that today's event is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Carlo Broos, Interim Chief Financial Officer.

Thank you, and good afternoon. I would like to thank you for taking the time to join us for Cibus's Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call and Webcast. Presenting with me today is Peter Beetham, Co-Founder, Interim Chief Executive Officer, President, and COO; and Greg Gocal, Co- Founder and our Chief Scientific Officer. Before we begin the call, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made on the call and webcast, including those regarding future financial results and future operational goals and industry prospects, are forward-looking and may be subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the call. Please refer to Cibus's SEC filings for a list of associated risks. This conference call is being webcast. The webcast link, along with our press release and corporate presentation, is available on the Investor Relations section of cibus.com to assist you in your analysis of our business. And with that, I would now like to turn the call over to Peter.

Thanks, Carlo, and good afternoon to everyone. I'd like to start today's call by recognizing that our team here at Cibus remains laser- focused on delivering our targeted near-term revenues. Our second quarter demonstrates continued execution toward our commercial objectives with clear progress across our focus programs in rice and partner-funded and/or supported sustainable ingredients, including biofragrances that are positioning Cibus to begin recognizing initial revenue in 2026. Every quarter, we are getting closer to that pivotal initial revenue moment through tangible commercial progress, which includes successful field trials, milestone achievements, regulatory clearances, and direct customer engagement. The path to revenue is really clear. Let me be even more specific about what we're building toward. Our rice herbicide tolerance traits, HT1 and HT3, alone represent over $200 million in potential annual royalty revenue across our initial target geographies in the United States and Latin America. These traits are progressing on schedule toward targeted initial launches in Latin America beginning in 2027 and expanding to the United States in 2028, which would generate initial royalty revenue and set the stage for further opportunities in the immense global rice feed market. This pursuit doesn't represent a distant aspiration. Rather, this is the reality of our near-term commercial opportunities. We believe we are developing a new industrial plant breeding platform. We have traits moving into the customer germplasm. We're seeing positive results in field trials, and we're witnessing an increasingly accepting global regulatory environment that's opening doors for customer engagement and market penetration opportunities that simply didn't exist before. As we advance towards revenue generation, we're taking a disciplined and strategic approach to capital allocation that maximizes our near-term commercial opportunities while preserving the significant value we've created across our broader trait portfolio. The streamlined operational focus we just announced in July concentrates…

Thank you, Peter. Now, before I share more details about our substantial opportunity pipeline, I would like to add my own endorsement of the breadth of the gene editing toolbox our talented team has developed here at Cibus. As a career plant biologist with over 25 years' experience in gene editing development, I continue to be impressed by the advances we make at Cibus in our underlying editing frequency of gene editing at a cellular level. These advances pave the way for our commercial opportunities for the most important traits in our partners' most elite seeds. Now, let me share more details about the substantial opportunity trait pipeline Peter just referenced, specifically our productivity traits portfolio and the partner interest we're seeing across multiple programs. While we remain strategically focused on our priority near-term revenue drivers, the value we've built in our broader trait portfolio continues to generate meaningful commercial opportunities that we're well-positioned to pursue through partnerships. I'll briefly review some specific examples of the progress and partner interest we're seeing, starting with our canola programs. Our HT2 field trials have delivered promising early results, validating both the trait's tolerance profile and field efficacy. These positive field demonstrations have generated concrete interest from potential partners who recognize the significant commercial value of next-generation herbicide tolerance in canola's global market. Remember, this is our second-generation HT2 Edits, which is a great example of how our technology can iterate and improve trait development. Equally compelling is our Sclerotinia resistance program in canola, which continues to attract substantial interest. Potential partners are particularly drawn to our multilayered approach to durable disease resistance, an approach that addresses one of canola's most persistent and costly challenges while offering growers a more sustainable solution. Beyond canola, our soybean platform represents perhaps our most substantial long-term…

Thank you, Greg. Looking at our financials for the second quarter. Our cash and cash equivalents were $36.5 million as of June 30, 2025. Taking into account the $27.5 million in gross proceeds we raised from our public offering in June, along with the impact of implemented cost-saving initiatives, we expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund planned operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2026. Moving to our operating results. Revenue for the second quarter was $933,000 compared to $838,000 in the year-ago period, reflecting increased activity in our partner-funded programs. Research and development expense was $12.2 million for the second quarter compared to $13 million in the year-ago period. This $800,000 decrease is primarily due to cost reduction initiatives that we have implemented as part of our streamlined operational focus. Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $6.6 million for the second quarter compared to $9.3 million in the year-ago period. The $2.7 million decrease is primarily due to cost reduction initiatives. Net loss was $26.6 million for the second quarter compared to $28.5 million in the year-ago period. As Peter mentioned, we're focused on managing our cash usage as we approach revenue generation. Subsequent to quarter-end, we announced a reduction in force as a pivotal step in implementing our streamlined business focus. We expect this rift to result in related one-time charges of approximately $0.5 million in the third quarter. However, the RF, along with other initiatives, is expected to reduce our annual net cash usage to approximately $30 million by 2026. This disciplined approach to capital allocation extends our cash runway while positioning us to capture the significant revenue opportunity ahead of us with initial revenues beginning in 2026 and meaningful commercial expansion thereafter. And with that financial overview, let me turn it back to Peter for closing remarks.

Thank you, Carlo. As I reflect on our progress this quarter and look ahead, I'm really confident we're executing on the strategy that will deliver long-term value for our shareholders. Our team has made some tough decisions this past quarter, and I'd like to recognize the entire team for their impactful contributions. While difficult, this has positioned us to stay laser-focused on the commercial path in front of us as we pursue our long-term strategy. We see this as a natural evolution of our business, as our partner interactions are now more focused on delivering traits in a time- bound and predictable way. As I noted previously, improved genetics are the engine room for seed genetic advancement, driving real value creation for farmers, our seed company partners, and Cibus shareholders. The bottom line is we have traits moving into the customer germ plasm. We continue to see positive field trial results, and we're operating in an increasingly favorable regulatory environment that's opening up global market opportunities. The gene editing revolution in agriculture is happening now, and Cibus is positioned at the forefront of this transformation with a clear path to approximately $200 million in potential annual royalty revenue from our rice traits alone, with initial biofragrance revenues beginning next fiscal year and meaningful expansion as we progress through to our rice commercial launch timeline. As I've mentioned a few times, we remain laser-focused on our core priorities: advancing our rice herbicide tolerance traits toward commercialization, growing our partner-funded and supported sustainable ingredients program, and building the operational foundation for sustainable revenue and cash flow generation that will capture significant value as our market opportunities materialize. We are confident that in time, the gene editing opportunities will expand to many of the world's important food crops. In concert with this, and with the advent of AI and tools like gene editing to execute on complex traits, we do see expanding trait development categories opening up, like nutrient use efficiency, NUE, and the exciting opportunities of nonallergenic crops. And with that small look into the future, thank you all for your attention and interest, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress next quarter. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] We will go first to Matthew Venezia with AGP

First, I wanted to ask about the germ plasm transfer that occurred this quarter. So, is this a customer that has already initiated field trials in Rice-HT3 on their own? Or would this provide a new set of company-specific field trials? And then I have a couple of follow- ups.

Thanks, Matt. This is Peter. I really appreciate your question. Just to put this into context, I think this is a great example of why we're so excited about rice. I think that we're on the commercial path now with 6 customers, and our ability to do edits and get material back to customers is something we're really proud of, and I think that is really going to set us up for the future. But more specifically, around your question, I think this is something I'm going to hand off to Greg because he's been intimately involved in the delivery of these lines back to one of our existing Rice customers.

Thanks, Peter, and thanks, Matt, for the question. So, this is a new customer that we're delivering back to for the U.S., and we're delivering back multiple lines with our HT3 trait. So, we're really excited because of their ability to use that in field trials going forward.

And then I heard at the beginning of the call, you had mentioned initial revenue in 2026. Is this reflecting the biofragrance moving from 4Q'25 into 1Q'26 for those first nominal revenues?

Thanks, Matt. Let me expand on that a little bit because I think this is an area of our business that, again, really looking forward to getting our first revenues, and what we've been really focused on, as you'll hear more and more around Cibus, is that we're so laser- focused on that near-term revenue. So, with regards to the biofragrances, as you've heard, we've had a lot of success over the last quarter in starting to scale up. And everything we've done, we've met our milestones on scale-up. We're really excited about where we're at now and where we're going to be towards the end of this year. We still see some nominal revenues this year as we scale up, as some of the early product is delivered back to customers. And then in '26 is when we really start to do full commercial runs with regard to the biofragrances that we have in our pipeline. And from there, it really ramps beyond that.

And those biofragrance revenues are all royalty in the same way your other potential revenues would be, correct?

Correct. I mean, the nominal revenues to start with, we're handing off some of the scale-up material, which is great. So, that's not essentially a royalty. But next year, we'll be moving to the royalty business model.

We'll go next to Austin Moeller with Canaccord.

Just my first question here. What have the Danish officials and the European Parliament told you are the next steps or hurdles in the negotiations for approving gene editing in the EU?

Austin, thank you for the question. This is Peter. I'm going to start off, and I'll let Greg chime in as well. But I think, as I said in our prepared remarks, the EU regulatory acceptance is something that is part of the harmonization globally. And that really has turned what has been some headwinds into tailwinds. I can't stress that enough. This is really why gene editing is happening now, and a clear path for our commercialization of many traits. So obviously, we follow this closely. And as the trialogue goes forward, it is a highly iterative process. There are a number of detailed committee work streams based on the council, the Parliament, and the commission. And to your question around the Danish, what we've heard from both the Polish and the Danish is that they're really working on the important amendments that were tabled last year in parliament. And what they're looking at is how to implement the legislation and get to the final text. So, some of that is around understanding how to execute that in all the different countries. So, some of the questions that have been brought up and the visibility around that are with regard to labeling and patenting are 2 of the key issues that they have discussed. And I think that the good news for all of us in the technology space is that that's really being handled very carefully and linked with the European Patent Office. So, we're confident that in the next 6 months, these will come to a good resolution, and we'll have a final text by the end of this year.

And just to add a little bit to Peter's remarks. So, remember that we've been in field trials in the U.K. with our pod shatter resistance trait for the last 2 years. And what you've seen in the U.K. is a move from approved legislation to implementing that legislation over the last couple of years to get to the point where you'll shortly be able to plant and grow edited crops without any restriction in the U.K., and that's our expectation going forward once you have final text in the EU and it's implemented across all of the 27 countries. So, thanks for the question, Austin.

And just a follow-up. What stage are we at in the winter oilseed gray field trials in the U.K.? And what is the timeline for the evaluation of the results?

So, we're towards the end of the second field season. So, harvest will likely happen in August, and that's where we'll know what the efficacy of the traits this year is, but we're excited by what we saw last year, that those results are similar this year for the material that was planted.

We'll go next to Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

I just have a quick couple of ones, mostly focused on 2026 cash burn. So, I think you are on track to reduce your OpEx to $30 million by the end of next year. When should we start seeing that like drop in expense? And part 2 of that question is, are you assuming any net proceeds from the biofragrances business that you expect to commercialize next year?

So thanks, Sameer. This is Peter. I'll start out and hand off to Carlo. But I think what we said in our prepared remarks, too, is that we're very much focused on a disciplined and strategic approach to our capital allocation. And this is a natural evolution of how the business has evolved. And as we move and see a clear path to commercialization, we're really about maximizing our near-term opportunity. And I think both biofragrances and the rice traits, every day, we see a clearer path, which is fantastic. What we've also recognized is that to focus on that, our business model is changing. And this is a really important point for everybody to hear: our ability to do things time-bound and predictably with editing and to be able to hand back to customers earlier has really changed the way we think about the business and what we do. And part of that is handing off earlier to customers, like we talked about with regards to our rice customers in HT3 allows us to really be more strategic and disciplined about our capital allocation. So, over the next couple of months, we've already seen a reduction in spend. We had a reduction in force subsequent to the quarter end, and we're on track to reduce our annual net cash usage, as you mentioned, in 2026 to a net $30 million. This is part of the natural evolution of the business, and it is also part of our laser focus. And I'll hand it to Carlo to see if you wanted to add anything.

Thank you, Peter. You fully nailed it. As you have heard, as you can read, it was in July. And the focus we talk about is absolutely also on expenses. It takes a bit of time, but we're focused on being ready early '26 with the number you mentioned. So, the EUR 30 million is a net number, and that is our target for 2026, and we will get there.

And then my second question relates to the scale-up and scale of sustainable ingredients. Like, when should we see meaning apart from the biofragrances, the sustainable ingredients, and maybe also consumer packaged goods start to at least see some commercial or customer interaction? And when should we see the scale-up in revenues from those?

Thank you for the question. I'll start out on this one and then hand off to Greg. But I think there are 2 parts to your question. There's the fragrances, and this is definitely where we see the scale up from '26 through the next 18 months on that. And I think that that's exciting for us because it really helps to work through to revenues that are meaningful very quickly. And that's the beauty of that particular revenue stream. With regards to sustainable ingredients, we are in the process of working with a funding partner, and we've made a lot of progress in that area. We're excited to see that come, but probably not for a couple of years. And so I think that will be towards the end of the late 20s. Is the best I could say today. But the good news is that the sustainable ingredients area is an expanding space. Bio-based products, whether it's fragrances or other bio-based products, are an area that has really garnered a lot of interest in agriculture, and it continues to. So, it's not just fuel anymore. There are lots of other sustainable ingredients that people are fascinated to apply new technologies to. And gene editing is one of the technologies that allows you to think through really interesting products that are different oil profiles, for example. And I mentioned in some of the summary remarks about nonallergenic crops as well, nonallergenic peanuts, nonallergenic wheat. These are opportunities that are really important, sustainable ingredients as we go forward.

Yes. So Peter, I think you've covered most of it. I think the bottom line is we're leveraging the platforms that we have. And really, we have a lot of opportunities in platforms that we've developed in the past even, as Peter says, with opportunities potentially in wheat and peanut, but also an ability to really understand the what to edit for a vast number of traits, where on more of the output side of the traits, what we would see is those are done mainly with partnerships. And even as we move forward with our Sclerotinia program and our HT2 program, we see those as partnered activities where we've made a huge amount of progress that we can really quickly deploy with managing our cash into potential products in the future. So thank you for your question.

We will go next to Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

This is Kevin on for Laurence. So just on the EU regulatory discussions, I mean, I guess, how long do you think it could be until companies are either selling into the EU or going to third-party customers that then sell into the EU via trade? And I guess, have you quantified what you think the opportunity, I guess, for the EU could represent to you guys? And just really quick, last on that. What do you think could be the larger opportunity? Would it be domestic cultivation in the EU or the trade of gene-edited crops into the EU?

Thanks, Kevin. This is Peter. I'll start out. I think that the EU, as I mentioned, on the regulatory front, again, it's something we follow so closely. And we've been doing this for a number of years. So we understand that literally in the next 6 months, there will be legislation and final text. There's no doubt in our minds that that is the likely outcome of where the Danish are. What that triggers is the implementation side of it. And so, what has happened in the U.K., if we go back and look at what happened with the U.K., they went through the primary legislation and then the secondary legislation, which is essentially to implement that law. And we see that probably 2 years after the final text. And so that will be heading towards the end of '27 is when you'll start to see products that can be commercialized in that marketplace. Primarily, it's to do with seed variety registration work that will be done in the EU. But more importantly is what you'll see, as you saw in the U.K., and what you've already seen in parts of Italy, is that gene-edited field trials will start to occur next year with partners. And so, as well as cultivation field trials will start happening, that will pave the way for full commercialization. And remember, Europe is literally in crops. And is a 100 million-acre opportunity, a greenfield opportunity when it comes to traits. They missed out on traits because they essentially banned GMOs. And so they haven't had the ability to take any traits into that marketplace. So I think not only does the EU drive a lot of positivity around global regulatory harmonization for trade and for cultivation, but it also opens up this enormous marketplace for traits as we move forward. So, we're really excited about not only just for our near-term revenue opportunities, but also the longer term where we can access that market.

And then just on RTDS, I guess, just more generally, I guess, how is Cibus differentiating its technology amid the rising competition in gene editing in general?

Yes. So Kevin, I think yes, excellent question. I mean, we're really excited. In terms of the RTDS system, we're starting with single cells and editing those single cells in a process to generate a product that is non-transgenic. So, that is our approach an having built gene editing from the ground up. But even beyond that, it's the complex edit. So, both numbers of loci. So, we had a paper published at the end of '23, talking about 8 different loci. We continue to push the limits of how many loci we can edit in a single cell at the same time. And you'll understand that with a process where you don't need a null segregant, you keep your genetic configuration intact as you move that forward. The second part is continuing to increase the number of edits colinear in a locus. And I think for what's possible in plants, I think we're in the best place from what I see out in the peer-reviewed literature and at conferences, et cetera. So we're excited for the complexity of the edits that we can make and the single-cell system that enables us to keep those edits together in the right genetic configuration in elite germ plasm.

Let me just add a little bit to that, Kevin, because I think it's such an important question. And I'm going to maybe simplify it a little bit. No one else does what we do. And using the single cell system has huge advantages for complex traits, but also from a regulatory front. So it's something that, just as Greg said, we've built this from the ground up as a gene editing company, not really changing a GMO pipeline into an editing pipeline. So, we are very different from anybody else and create a lot of opportunities that no one else can get to.

We will go next to Alex Hantman with Sidoti

Just a couple from me. Firstly, just to follow up on the '26 commercial ramp for biofragrance. Could we just talk a little bit about whether that comes from expanding your relationship with your current client? Or is that really from selling into new customers, and so that might take a little longer?

Thanks, Alex. This is Peter. That's such a great question because it really is a big driver. We are very much focused on a single customer right now for 2026. Having said that, there are other opportunities out there. And fragrances are used in so many different products, from personal care to packaging to a lot of household goods. And that size of market continues to grow when you can provide something that's bio-based and not necessarily through very expensive natural processes or synthetic processes. So you've got an opportunity that we see potentially expanding. But to your specific question, in '26, it is really around one customer. We'd like to see that expand even within that customer's opportunity and take on others as well.

And then one more for me, just on something you brought up a couple of times. So I think you gave a sense of royalty scale for alfalfa relative to rice, but maybe you could do the same for nonallergenic crops and nitrogen use efficiency.

Thanks, Alex. Yes, exactly. I think that when you think about Cibus from a commercialization company, we're all about licensing technology for royalties. And so, we're also very much focused on productivity traits. So, every productivity trait we think about is the money that we are going to save the farmer at the farm gate. So that's where our annualized royalty pricing comes from. I think that when you start to do complex traits or you start to combine traits and bring traits together, the pricing model increases, and it's exciting to see the sorts of numbers you might get to when you think about what Greg mentioned earlier about the $10 to $15 per acre next to Cibus on a trait in soybean that we think can access 125 million acres. When it comes to nonallergenic crops, the pricing as a royalty can be considerably more than that because you end up with a quality trait that garners a much higher premium, not only at the farm gate, but when they deliver it to silos or they deliver it to a food company. So I think that we are yet to talk about any pricing in those areas, but we have in our productivity traits. But suffice to say, I think some of the quality traits are going to have a much higher price point from a royalty standpoint.

And we have no further questions holding at this time. I will now turn the conference back to Peter Beetham for any additional or closing remarks.

So, thank you to everybody for joining the call today. I really do appreciate that. I've just got a few closing remarks because I think we've covered a lot today. But I wanted to say how proud I was of the team in the last quarter. This is not a time where the business is evolving, and I couldn't be prouder of what we've been able to achieve, but also positioning us for commercial success. Implementing changes to maximize our path to that near-term revenue is something that everyone in this company has been laser- focused on. I couldn't be prouder of that. What I've said before, and I'll say it again, is that gene editing has a clear path to industrialize breeding. And it's not for the future. It's actually happening now, which is very exciting. So hopefully, we've covered a good summary of our pipeline, where we are laser-focused with rice and beyond. I think Greg has done a great job of sharing out our portfolio. And as a group, we look forward to updating you all on the next earnings call next quarter. So, I'd like to thank you for your interest and thank you for your continued support. And with that, we would like to close the call. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. This does conclude today's program. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time.