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Contact:
Marshall Fong, Ganeden Biotech
440-229-5216
boyd@ganedenbiotech.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ganeden Biotech Completes $40 Million Sale of Sustenex® and Digestive Advantage® Probiotic Brands
Capital from Sale and Royalties Will Boost Efforts on Ganeden's High Growth Portfolio in
Food and Beverage Ingredients, Probiotic Yogurt, Animal Feed, and Cardiovascular Health
CLEVELAND, OH (June 6, 2011) –Ganeden Biotech announced the sale of its leading Sustenex® and Digestive Advantage® brands of probiotic dietary supplements to Schiff Nutrition International, Inc. for $40 million in cash. Ganeden will also receive royalties on Schiff products containing GanedenBC30®. The sale includes the worldwide exclusive rights to use Ganeden's probiotic technology, GanedenBC30, in the over-the-counter (OTC) and dietary supplement space. Ganeden and Schiff also intend to collaborate on extending the use of OTC probiotic technologies into new areas of human health.
The capital from the sale and royalties will accelerate the commercialization of Ganeden's remaining high-growth portfolio, including its rapidly expanding food and beverage probiotic ingredients business, its recently launched enLiven™ probiotic yogurt brand, its GanproTM line of Direct Fed Microbial feed additives, its clinical-stage entries into the cardiovascular health market, and various feminine health, topical, and cosmetic applications.
Over the past three years, Sustenex® and Digestive Advantage® combined to make Ganeden the largest seller of OTC probiotics in the retail mass market on a unit basis. Consumer loyalty for Ganeden's OTC probiotics, as measured by repeat purchase rate, grew to be the second highest among the top 50 brands of OTC gastrointestinal products sold in the United States.
"After achieving a leading market position with our Sustenex® and Digestive Advantage® brands with a very limited marketing spend, we believed it was the right time to sell these brands to a partner that will provide incremental marketing support, which will substantially increase the number of consumers who will benefit from the daily use of our probiotics," said Andrew Lefkowitz, Ganeden's President and CEO.
"Although Ganeden has already been awarded over 100 patents around the world and published 13 studies in peer-reviewed journals, this transaction will also give us the capital needed to further substantiate the efficacy of GanedenBC30 in a broad range of human and animal health applications through greater focus on our scientific expertise," Lefkowitz added.
About Ganeden Biotech
Ganeden Biotech is a Cleveland, Ohio, based company that markets enLivenTM probiotic yogurt in Walmart stores nationally and licenses its patented strain of probiotic bacteria, GanedenBC30, for use in branded food and beverage applications. Ganeden also markets its Ganpro™ brand of direct fed microbial as an alternative to traditional antibiotic use. Ganeden licenses its technology directly and through select distributors such as Glanbia Nutrition, PL Thomas, Sochim, and Pathway International. GanedenBC30 is also known as Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, PTA-6086. Clinical trials show that GanedenBC30 is effective in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), intestinal gas, and in boosting the immune system against cold and flu viruses. GanedenBC30 is currently being studied in IBS and depression by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in HIV infection by researchers at the Aids Healthcare foundation. For more information, visit www.GanedenLabs.com.
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