GlobeNewswire Inc | Mar 4, 2021 09:15AM EST

March 04, 2021

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y., March 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII), a leading plant-based, biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm reduction, very low nicotine content tobacco, and hemp/cannabis research, today announced that it has received net proceeds of $8.1 million from the cash exercise of outstanding warrants during February and March of 2021. The remaining warrants, if exercised for cash, will bring additional net proceeds of $3.7 million in cash to the Company. Following the above transaction, the Company will no longer have any outstanding warrants.

We are pleased to further strengthen our balance sheet with $8.1 million from the exercise of these existing warrants that were already a consideration in our fully diluted capital structure, said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group. The capital will provide us with additional runway to further fuel our current operations, strategy, and growth initiatives including near-term opportunities in both our tobacco and hemp/cannabis franchises. We look forward to securing Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTP) authorization, launching VLN, and building the VLN brand. The additional cash will also support our hemp/cannabis R&D initiatives and the development of our third franchise in 2021.

About 22nd Century Group,Inc.22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American:XXII) is a leading plant biotechnology company focused on technologies that alter the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis plants through genetic engineering, gene-editing, and modern plant breeding. 22nd Centurys primary mission in tobacco is to reduce the harm caused by smoking through the Companys proprietary reduced nicotine content tobacco cigarettes containing 95% less nicotine than conventional cigarettes. The Companys primary mission in hemp/cannabis is to develop and commercialize proprietary hemp/cannabis plants with valuable cannabinoid profiles and desirable agronomic traits.

Learn more atxxiicentury.com, on Twitter@_xxiicentury, and onLinkedIn.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsExcept for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements typically contain terms such as anticipate, believe, consider, continue, could, estimate, expect, explore, foresee, goal, guidance, intend, likely, may, plan, potential, predict, preliminary, probable, project, promising, seek, should, will, would, and similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth in Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 11, 2020, and in its subsequently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investor Relations & Media Contact:Mei KuoDirector, Communications & Investor Relations22nd Century Group, Inc.(716) 300-1221mkuo@xxiicentury.com