Guardion Health Sciences to Acquire Activ Nutritional, LLC and Its Well-Known Viactiv Brand of Products from Adare Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Acquisition to Transform and Strengthen Guardion’s Clinical Nutrition Product Portfolio

Guardion Will Continue to Explore Additional Growth Opportunities to Further Expand its Presence in the Clinical Nutrition Market

SAN DIEGO, May 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Guardion Health Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GHSI) (“Guardion” or the “Company”), a clinical nutrition and diagnostics company that develops clinically supported nutrition, medical foods, supplements and medical devices, today announced the first acquisition being effected under its recently-appointed CEO’s new growth strategy to more widely compete in the clinical nutrition market. The Company has entered into an Equity Purchase Agreement with Adare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Adare”) to acquire all of the equity of Activ Nutritional, LLC for a cash payment of $26 million, subject to certain adjustments. The transaction is subject to several customary closing conditions and is expected to close by June 30, 2021.

Adare owns the Viactiv line of supplement chews for bone health, immune health and other applications. Currently marketed through many of the nation’s largest retailers, including, among others, Walmart (retail and online), Target and Amazon, the Viactiv product lines are expected to become Guardion’s most prominent product lines, as well as to provide access to significant opportunities in the short-term for growth and expansion.

Bret Scholtes, Guardion’s CEO commented, “The Activ Nutritional acquisition satisfies a number of our current objectives as we continue efforts to build our position within the clinical nutrition market. Activ Nutritional has an established brand and presence from which we can significantly expand our capabilities in terms of marketing, product lines and new distribution channels. It also will provide a significant boost to our current revenues and operating earnings. The transaction immediately expands our reach beyond ocular health, which has long been our primary focus, and allows us to more easily explore opportunities in the wider world of clinical nutrition. It also positions us to more adeptly identify additional opportunities to expand our presence in the market, whether through improved commercialization of our current products and product pipeline or through other acquisitions and other strategic transactions. We look forward to announcing to our shareholders the closing of this important transaction.”