U.S. Wrinkle Cream Creates International Flap… StriVectin-SD

Business Wire, June 25, 2007

The "Stretch Mark Cream Turned Anti-Wrinkle Phenomenon" Captures Top Honors at France's Prestigious 'Grand Prix of Beauty'

PARIS & SALT LAKE CITY -- It's official. StriVectin-SD[R] has been voted the #1 skin cream in France and now stands alone at the top of the French cosmetic market. Klein-Becker's internationally-renowned prestige skin care cream has won top honors at the 17th annual "Les Grand Prix Advantages de la Beaute" (Advantage's Grand Prix of Beauty) organized by the popular French magazine Advantages (from the Marie Claire group). The award was presented in Paris... Much to the chagrin of an audience comprised of French cosmetic giants, the likes of Lancome, ReVive, La Mer, L'Oreal, Yves Rocher, and many others.

What's remarkable is the fact that StriVectin-SD (from Salt Lake City, Utah, of all places) was selected by French consumers over some of the cosmetic industry's most prestigious brands.

"This honor came as a total surprise," said Gina Gay who accepted the award for StriVectin and its manufacturer, Klein-Becker. "We never suspected we would win the highest award, the Grand Prix. I can tell you there were a lot of shocked looks on the faces of the executives from the major international brands when StriVectin was announced as the winner. I mean, the mostly French audience gasped when they realized an American product was voted the favorite cosmetic by French women. Can you imagine?"

For the past 17 years, the publication Advantage has been sponsoring "Les Grands Prix Advantages de la Beaute". This year, 5000 French women from across the country were asked to select their favorite beauty products based on the following criteria: pleasure, innovation, confidence in the brand, and effectiveness. And while there were several sub-categories (products specifically designed for eyes, body, etc.) StriVectin took top honors.

This is the second time in less than a year that StriVectin has been named #1 by French consumers. Last September, France's leading consumer magazine (60 Millions De Consommateur) named StriVectin as the best, most effective anti-wrinkle face cream, as judged by a panel of 264 French women... beating the likes of Dior, Chanel, ROC, L'Oreal, Lancome and other high-end (and French made) products costing as much as EU142 (about $185) per ounce.

"StriVectin had already set sales records in the United States so we expected great results in France," said Ms. Gay, "But let's face it, French women have access to the most sophisticated cosmetics in the world and they're extremely skeptical about products from America. Yet, when it comes to reducing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and crows' feet, they prefer a formula from, of all places, Salt Lake City, Utah. It's another chapter in the incredible StriVectin story."

For Those Who Don't Know the StriVectin Story

In a remarkable turn of events, arguably one of the strangest in the history of cosmetics, women across the country are putting a stretch-mark cream called StriVectin-SD on their face to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and crows' feet. And, if consumer sales are any indication of a product's effectiveness, StriVectin-SD is nothing short of a miracle. Women, as well as a growing number of "Boomer" men, are buying so much StriVectin-SD that finding a tube at your local cosmetic counter has become just about impossible. Did everyone go mad? Well...not really.

Although StriVectin-SD's functional components were already backed by clinical trials documenting their ability to visibly reduce the appearance of existing stretch marks (prominent because of their depth, length, discoloration and texture)... the success of StriVectin-SD as an anti-wrinkle cream was "dumb luck," said Ms. Gay.

"When we first handed out samples of the StriVectin formula to employees and customers as part of our market research, the sample tubes were simply marked 'topical cream' with the lot number underneath," Ms. Gay explained. "As the samples were passed to friends and family, the message became a little muddled and some people used this 'topical cream' as a facial moisturizer. As we began to receive feedback from users, like 'I look 10 years younger' and 'I can't even notice my crows' feet' we knew we had something more than America's most effective stretch-mark cream. The point was driven home as store owners began reporting that almost as many people were purchasing StriVectin as an anti-wrinkle cream as were buying it to reduce stretch marks."

Dr. Daniel B. Mowrey, PhD, Klein-Becker's Director of Scientific Affairs, says, "Clearly, people were seeing results, but we didn't have a scientific explanation as to why this wrinkle-reduction was occurring. "Based on the incredibly positive reports from users and the Paris reports," Mowrey continues, "I started using StriVectin myself... as an aftershave in the morning and before I go to bed at night. And let me tell you - no one has ever accused me of being handsome, but now I'm happy to say that I look young and ugly rather than old and ugly. For me, that's a big improvement."