Investors

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care, announces it has entered into a manufacturing and supply agreement with Cereal Ingredients, Inc, ("CII"). The agreement grants CII a licence to manufacture and supply OptiBiotix's award winning SlimBiome® as an extruded product in CII's range of cereal based particulates in the USA, in return for 50% of the profit, with an agreed cost of manufacture and minimum sales price per kilogramme.

Cereal Ingredients is a privately held speciality ingredients manufacturer based in Kansas, USA, dedicated to the development, manufacture and supply of unique, high-quality food ingredients which contribute a meaningful point of difference. Cereal Ingredients have incorporated SlimBiome® into their range of cereal and protein based particulates and speciality ingredients. This technical innovation extends the application of SlimBiome® into bakery products (e.g. cookies, cakes and tortillas), breakfast cereals (puffs, hoops and flakes), crackers, toppings (e.g. salad, breakfast) as well as increasing the range of options for healthy snacks, yoghurts and cereal bars. This significantly extends the scale of the opportunity and creates the potential to develop healthy functional products for the US cereal, snacks, and sports nutrition market.

Under the terms of the agreement, CII will use their best endeavours to promote and expand the supply of SlimBiome® across the USA bringing it to the attention of as many buyers as possible. SlimBiome®, a patented combination of natural ingredients developed by experts to provide hunger free weight loss, will be supplied by CII as an extruded product to add flavour, texture and functionality to baked goods, cereals and a diverse range of other food applications.

This agreement is a strategic step to access the global healthy ingredients market ($101.32bn, 2022*) with an established and respected supplier of unique, high quality, value added functional food ingredients. SlimBiome® is first in a range of products developed by OptiBiotix which brings the science of microbiome to help improve human health. Other products under development in the product range include ImmunoBiome™, CardioBiome™ and WellBiome™.

*Market data from 'Markets and Markets, July 2017

Stephen O'Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: "We are pleased to announce the signing of a manufacturing, supply and profit sharing agreement for the US markets with Cereal Ingredients. We chose Cereal Ingredients due to their industry reputation and world leading expertise in incorporating functional ingredients like SlimBiome® into extruded cereal and protein based particulates bringing added value and differentiation to the cereal, snacks and sports nutrition markets. We were particularly impressed by the investment in development work, marketing and customer engagement carried out by CII during negotiations which have given both companies a high level of confidence in the scale of the opportunity open to us. We believe working with CII, and similar partners around the world, provides the best opportunity of fully exploiting the functional benefits of SlimBiome® to improve the health of customers around the world."

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About OptiBiotix - www.optibiotix.com

OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome - the collective genome of the microbes in the body - to prevent and manage human disease.

The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.