A JV between Acenzia, Livewell’s (LVWL.V) newly acquired subsidiary, and nutritional supplement producer PRO-DIP launched their eponymously named nutritional supplement on Amazon’s (AMZN.Q) e-commerce website today.
Both Acenzia and PRO-DIP are angling to get a piece of the enormous global dietary supplements market, projected to reach USD$278 billion by 2024.
“The exciting thing about this product is that is can be used as a delivery system for any kind of nutrition, for any kind of activity or adventure,” said Peter St. Lawrence, PRO-DIP’s founder. “I look forward to exploring all the possibilities for PRO-DIP to help people focus on their wellness.”
The product’s name is a reference to the colloquial name for chewing tobacco, ‘dip’, which is highly popular among athletes.
St. Lawrence, a former athlete himself, saw an opportunity to provide a healthy alternative for athletes needing a boost.
Instead of nicotine, an addictive and carcinogenic compound, PRO-DIP users can expect a burst of energy from natural vitamins and caffeine.
St. Lawrence founded PRO-DIP in May 2015 and PRO-DIP was born. The company is based in New York State, approximately 30 minutes north of New York City.
PRO-DIP’s product formulation comes in completely semi-permeable sachets that are placed between the lip and gumline.
Best of all, PRO-DIP dissolves in the mouth and is safe to swallow.
Livewell closes Acenzia acquisition
At the same time PRO-DIP was launched, Livewell announced their completed acquisition of Acenzia.
The total purchase cost $20M and included an $8M earn-out payment dependent on the the company reaching financial targets in 2019.
Acenzia’s state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities make it a perfect fit for Livewell, according to company management.
“We are a research-driven organization, and Acenzia’s best-in-class, globally patented research model for developing and testing product efficacy in natural health products, and applying that to manufacturing the products, is simply revolutionary. No one else is doing this,” said David Rendimonti, Livewell’s CEO.
The company’s research models, used for products like PRO-DIP, will be integral to Livewell’s aims of developing industry-leading CBD products.
Acenzia’s co-president, Dr. Indrajit Sinha, is a peer-reviewed scientist specializing in immunology who initially developed the company’s in-vivo research model to test the efficacy of cancer drugs.
CBD dosing is another area of discovery Acenzia is committed to better understanding:
“In a natural health product, there might be 50 ingredients on the label. With this model, we can test and evaluate the ingredients rapidly, and then standardize and validate the inputs to ensure batch-batch efficacy,” Sinha said.
Sinha is now putting these skills to work for Acenzia through their research model, which, interestingly enough, involves ethical testing on zebrafish. The company is fully-committed to unlocking the secrets of CBD and harnessing its capabilities.
Livewell stock has been halted since December 3, 2018. The company was last trading at $0.74 and is valued at $119.5M.
–Ethan Reyes
Full disclosure: Livewell Canada is an Equity.Guru marketing client.