Medifast Expands into $30B Sports Nutrition Category with OPTAVIA ACTIVE™

BALTIMORE, July 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Medifast (NYSE: MED), the health and wellness company known for its habit-based and Coach-guided lifestyle solution OPTAVIA®, today unveiled a new product line, OPTAVIA ACTIVE. The line includes premium exercise supplements and protein powders, OPTAVIA ACTIVE Essential Amino Acid (EAAs) Blend and OPTAVIA ACTIVE Whey Protein, with other products expected to be rolled out next year. Both are designed to help new and existing Customers of all fitness levels optimize their motion habits. OPTAVIA ACTIVE marks an inflection point for the company, as it targets new Customer segments and triples its total addressable market by entering the sports nutrition category – a $30B market.

Formulated to work with or without OPTAVIA nutrition plans and guided by Coach support, OPTAVIA ACTIVE is backed by science, made with no colors, flavors or sweeteners from artificial sources and is Informed Sport certified – a global standard in sports nutrition quality control that ensures its certified products contain no banned substances.

• OPTAVIA ACTIVE EAAs contain a clinically studied blend of eight essential amino acids, including an impressive 3.5 grams of leucine per serving, specifically designed to help activate muscle protein synthesis – the natural process where protein is produced to repair or build new muscle.
• OPTAVIA ACTIVE Whey Protein contains 24 grams of high-quality, complete protein per serving, and when paired with a healthy diet and exercise plan, can help build muscle and strength.

As part of this new healthy motion program, the company has partnered with Aaptiv, a leading fitness app, to provide on-demand, guided workouts for its Community.

"With the introduction of OPTAVIA ACTIVE, we now offer another tool to help more people make lifestyle changes and embrace healthy habits in all areas of their lives," said Dan Chard, Chairman and CEO of Medifast. "This line builds on our existing healthy weight management and eating program and provides each Customer with a simple, Coach-guided way for them to practice the habit of healthy motion. We are making great progress against our mission as we continue to make OPTAVIA increasingly central to the health journeys of many more people."

Thousands of independent OPTAVIA Coaches will gather in Atlanta this weekend for the company's upcoming OPTAVIA Convention, which will feature keynote addresses, educational sessions and panel discussions. In addition to how OPTAVIA ACTIVE will help shape the future of the business, another key topic will include the importance of lifestyle interventions amid the emergence of new, promising weight loss medications. Through a small pilot in partnership with a network of telehealth providers, the company is exploring a combination of its habit-based, Coach-guided solution, OPTAVIA, together with innovations in medically supported weight loss, including GLP-1s. The company also plans to share details around how it is fostering an engaged U.S. Hispanic Coach Community within the OPTAVIA ecosystem.

"OPTAVIA has impacted more than three million lives, with 1.2 million Customers being served by our Coaches last year alone," continued Dan Chard, Chairman and CEO of Medifast. "This is inspiring, but we are eager to build on this success through new growth opportunities in the broader health and wellness market, such as moving into adjacent categories, growing our demographic segments and expanding into additional markets. We have an opportunity to meet more people where they are and offer them the tools that will be most helpful to them."

Medifast plans to continue investing in its offer to support all areas of its proprietary Habits of Health Transformational System, which includes motion, sleep, mind and more. The company is committed to innovating as the industry evolves to continue delivering evidence-based solutions that are effective in helping Customers create healthy habits and reach their wellness goals.

OPTAVIA ACTIVE will launch to the public in September 2023. Follow Medifast and OPTAVIA on social media for Convention and other company updates.

About Medifast®:

Medifast (NYSE: MED) is the health and wellness company known for its habit-based and Coach-guided lifestyle solution OPTAVIA®, which provides people with a simple, yet comprehensive approach to help them achieve lasting optimal health and wellbeing. OPTAVIA offers clinically proven plans, scientifically developed products and a framework for habit creation reinforced by independent Coaches and Community support. As a physician-founded company with a 40+ year history, Medifast is a leader in the U.S. weight management industry. The company continues to innovate and build upon its scientific and clinical heritage to deliver on its mission of offering the world Lifelong Transformation, One Healthy Habit at a Time®. Medifast was recognized in 2023 by Financial Times as one of The Americas' Fastest Growing Companies and in 2022 as one of America's Best Mid-Sized Companies by Forbes. For more information, visit MedifastInc.com and OPTAVIA.com and follow @Medifast on Twitter.

Forward Looking Statements

Please Note: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by use of phrases or terminology such as "intend," "anticipate," "expect" or other similar words or the negative of such terminology. Similarly, descriptions of Medifast's objectives, strategies, plans, goals, outlook or targets contained herein are also considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Medifast and are subject to certain events, risks, uncertainties and other factors. Some of these factors include, among others, risks associated with Medifast's direct-to-consumer business model; the impact of rapid growth on Medifast's systems; disruptions in Medifast's supply chain; Medifast's inability to continue to develop new products; effectiveness of Medifast's advertising and marketing programs, including use of social media by independent OPTAVIA Coaches; Medifast's inability to maintain and grow the network of independent OPTAVIA Coaches; the departure of one or more key personnel; Medifast's inability to protect against online security risks and cyberattacks; to protect its brand and intellectual property, or to protect against product liability claims; Medifast's planned growth into domestic and international markets; adverse publicity associated with Medifast's products; Medifast's inability to continue declaring dividends; fluctuations of Medifast's common stock market price; the prolonged effects of COVID-19 on consumer spending and disruptions to our distribution network, supply chains and operations; increases in competition or litigation; the consequences of other geopolitical events, including natural disasters, global health crises,  acts of war (including the war in Ukraine), changes in trade policies and tariffs, climate change, regulatory changes, increases in costs of raw materials, fuel, or other energy, transportation, or utility costs and in the costs of labor and employment, labor shortages, supply chain issues and the resulting impact on market conditions and consumer sentiment and spending; and Medifast's ability to prevent or detect a failure of internal control over financial reporting. Although Medifast believes that the expectations, statements and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cautions readers to always consider all of the risk factors and any other cautionary statements carefully in evaluating each forward-looking statement in this release, as well as those set forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, and other filings filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this release.

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SOURCE Medifast