Marks major milestone toward imminent availability for sale to customers

TORONTO, Jan. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lifeist Wellness Inc. ("Lifeist" or the "Company") (TSXV: LFST) (FRANKFURT: M5B) (OTCMKTS: NXTTF), a health-tech company that leverages advancements in science and technology to build breakthrough companies that transform human wellness, today announced that its U.S. biosciences subsidiary Mikra Cellular Sciences Inc. ("Mikra") has begun commercial scale production of a new and improved version of CELLF.

"Starting production of this new and improved version of CELLF is a major milestone following a lot of hard work behind the scenes by Mikra's team both on R&D and sourcing of new packaging and materials," said Meni Morim, CEO of Lifeist. "This advancement brings Mikra one step closer to shipping the new version to customers, and will help Mikra deliver on the promise of becoming a more meaningful contributor to Lifeist's financial performance in 2023."

Added Faraaz Jamal, CEO of Mikra and COO of Lifeist, "When we first created CELLF, we prioritized efficacy, potency and safety, with the goal of establishing Mikra as an innovator in the market. This meant we made cognizant sacrifices with the first version of the formula in order to assure that we were making a safe product that really worked and lived up to our standards. With a successful launch under our belts, and a loyal consumer base, we are now positioned to build on the prior innovations while making improvements based on heartfelt customer feedback. The result of this R&D journey is beyond our expectations, and we look forward to introducing these upgrades to established and new customers."

The key improvements in the upgraded version of CELLF include:

• Significantly better taste
• Brand new, one-handed accessible sachet design
• Protective, environmentally friendly exterior packaging
• Now dairy-free & vegan with no impact to delivery technology

"The new version of CELLF effectively addresses the feedback we received with version one, removing most major barriers in the sales funnel to purchase and increasing the probability of both customer retention and winback as we continue to grow and nurture our repeat customer community," said Jamal. "As we have recently seen, this incremental improvement has already opened up more distribution opportunities and we believe it will lead to higher gross margins and higher customer lifetime value."

Concluded Jamal, "The evolution of CELLF was a necessary step to solidify it as Mikra's flagship product and set the internal mindset that the key to business longevity is the absence of complacence. This is only the first of many strategic, iterative improvements we will make to our product suite to ensure our delivery meets or exceeds customer expectations."

When production is complete, the new and improved formula will be available for purchase at wearemikra.com and will be the debut version of the product sold at GNC stores and .

About Lifeist Wellness Inc.

Sitting at the forefront of the post-pandemic wellness revolution, Lifeist leverages advancements in science and technology to build breakthrough companies that transform human wellness. Portfolio business units include: CannMart, which operates a B2B wholesale distribution business facilitating recreational cannabis sales to Canadian provincial government control boards including for CannMart Labs, a BHO extraction facility producing high margin cannabis 2.0 products; Australian Vapes, one of Australia's largest online retailers of vaporizers and accessories; and Mikra, a biosciences and consumer wellness company developing and selling innovative therapies for cellular health.

Information on Lifeist and its businesses can be accessed through the links below:

lifeist.comcannmart.comroilty.coaustralianvaporizers.com.auwearemikra.com

Contacts

Meni Morim, Lifeist Wellness Inc., CEO
Matt Chesler, CFA, FNK IR, Investor Relations
Ph: 647-362-0390
Email: ir@lifeist.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release or has in any way approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not historical in nature contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen.

The forward-looking information contained herein, including, without limitation, statements related to the anticipated shipping to customers of the improved version of CELLF and the anticipated contribution to Lifeist's financial performance resulting from such sales during 2023, are made as of the date of this news release and is based on assumptions management believed to be reasonable at the time such statements were made, including, without limitation, expectations that and the improved version of CELLF will be available for purchase as anticipated and in a timely manner and gain market acceptance along with the expansion of the nutraceutical, its expectation that the market for nutraceutical products will remain strong and will continue to grow as currently anticipated, the nutraceutical market will continue to be a multi-billion dollar high-margin market, the introduction of new products, brands and distribution channels will generate additional awareness of Mikra's existing and future products and increase revenue. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to management, there is no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this press release. Such factors include, without limitation: unanticipated production issues or delays with respect to the improved version of CELLF; the failure to make the improved version of CELLF available for distribution and sale as anticipated in 2023, the Company's inability to continue to develop Mikra's business as a whole, including its inability to increase distribution through retail and online channels, unanticipated changes to current regulations that would adversely impact Mikra's business, unforeseen developments that would delay Mikra's ability to develop and sell any nutraceutical products, the risk that the expected demand for nutraceutical products in general and those of Mikra in particular, including consumer uptake, does not develop as anticipated and risks relating to the Company's ability to execute its business strategy and the benefits realizable therefrom. Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's current MD&A which has been filed under the Company's SEDAR profile at . Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Source: Lifeist Wellness Inc.