Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. is running with its success in anti-aging skin care, acquiring a research company in the U.S. While simultaneously opening a state-of-the art R&D facility in Shanghai.

The Utah-based firm has announced announced that it has closed the transaction to acquire LifeGen Technologies, LLC, a genomics company based in Madison, WI for $11.7 million. The Nu Skin purchase will result in the transfer of substantially all of the assets of LifeGen to Nu Skin, including its proprietary tissue bank and gene expression database, patents and other intellectual property related to anti-aging gene research. The company also initiated new research and development contracts, consulting and non-competition agreements with LifeGen co-founders, Richard Weindruch, Ph.D., and Tomas Prolla, Ph.D., who will both manage and provide scientific leadership at the Madison-based research facility and continue to serve on the Nu Skin Anti-aging Scientific Advisory Board.

The company initiated its scientific collaboration with LifeGen in 2009. Since that time, LifeGen’s proprietary genetic science has enhanced the development of Nu Skin’s next-generation super-class of anti-aging products, including the company’s most recent introduction of the ageLOC R² nutritional supplement.

In other news, Nu Skin has broken ground on its new Greater China Innovation Park in Shanghai. The approximately $50 million, state-of-the-art complex will serve as the headquarters for the Greater China region and feature what Nu Skin describes as “world-class anti-aging research and development laboratories, as well as manufacturing facilities, modern meeting spaces and spacious green areas.”
“The new Greater China Innovation Park is a testament to the vast opportunity and great potential we see for our Greater China business, particularly mainland China,” said Truman Hunt, chief executive officer. “This new facility will be the single largest Nu Skin corporate complex in the world, representing our continued focus on innovation, as well as our unyielding dedication to providing our distributors with innovative products, rewarding business opportunities and an enriching, uplifting culture.”

The Nu Skin Innovation Park will be located in the heart of Shanghai’s Fengxian District. It will be situated on 57 acres and the facility will compass approximately 33,000 sq. meters, or 355,210 sq. ft. The facility’s new anti-aging laboratories will also bring most of Nu Skin’s China-based scientists together, fostering additional collaboration and advancement opportunities. The company anticipates the completion of the Innovation Park to be mid-2013 and is seeking LEED Gold certification for the facility’s environmentally-conscious features.