Nu Skin Enterprises Acquires LifeGen Technologies

PROVO, Utah, Dec. 14, 2011 -- Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. today announced that it has closed the transaction to acquire LifeGen Technologies, LLC, a genomics company based in Madison, Wisconsin for $11.7 million. The Nu Skin purchase will result in the transfer of substantially all of the assets of LifeGen to Nu Skin, including its proprietary tissue bank and gene expression database, patents and other intellectual property related to anti-aging gene research. The company also initiated new research and development contracts, consulting and non-competition agreements with LifeGen co-founders, Richard Weindruch, Ph.D., and Tomas Prolla, Ph.D., who will both manage and provide scientific leadership at the Madison-based research facility and continue to serve on the Nu Skin Anti-aging Scientific Advisory Board.

"We are pleased to have completed the acquisition of LifeGen," said Dr. Joseph Chang, Nu Skin's chief scientific officer. "We believe the acquisition significantly enhances Nu Skin's position as a leader in the anti-aging industry, providing Nu Skin exclusive ownership of LifeGen's substantial intellectual property encompassing more than 30 years of breakthrough scientific study on the genetic sources of aging and a proprietary algorithm that identifies important age-related genes. The global anti-aging market is expected to grow at a rapid rate in the coming years. By bringing the proprietary LifeGen scientific assets and expertise in house, we believe we are in a unique position to develop a steady stream of our super-class of anti-aging products that help people live younger, longer."

The company initiated its scientific collaboration with LifeGen in 2009. Since that time, LifeGen's proprietary genetic science has enhanced the development of Nu Skin's next-generation super-class of anti-aging products, including the company's most recent introduction of the ageLOC® R2 nutritional supplement.

We are pleased to become a part of the Nu Skin family as we continue to break new ground in understanding the relationship between gene activity and nutritional control of the aging process," said Weindruch.

Prolla added, "We believe that through this exclusive relationship between LifeGen and Nu Skin is synergistic and will drive the launch of science-based products that effectively slow the effects of aging."

"We are already feeling the positive impact of LifeGen's proprietary databases as we develop ageLOC products for introduction in 2013," continued Chang. "Together, we are discovering new genetic insights for weight loss and overall longevity that have unique application for anti-aging solutions. Overall, I believe that the acquisition of LifeGen cements our ability to truly create the most innovative products in the anti-aging category for many years to come."