GNC Discontinues Ephedra Sales

GNC Discontinues Ephedra Sales

PITTSBURGH--General Nutrition Centers (GNC) announced plans todiscontinue the sale of all ephedra-based products by the end of June. Anyremaining inventories will be removed from stores at that time.

"We believe that ephedra-based products are safe when used asdirected," said Michael K. Meyers, president and chief executive officer ofGeneral Nutrition Corp. (www.gnc.com)."Nonetheless, the current business climate dictates that we move in adifferent direction. As a consequence of this move, GNC will take a one-offprovision, but we remain confident that we will see positive results for2003."

GNC operates more than 5,300 retail outlets worldwide, and is a wholly ownedsubsidiary of The Netherlands-based Royal Numico. The GNC division is currentlyon "probation" with Numico, as it debates whether to sell the chain;it sold the European GNCs to NBTY in March. Last November, Numico noted GNC waslaunching an ephedra-free diet product--Total Lean--in hopes of avoiding theloss of sales that could come with an ephedra sales ban in the United States.According to today's GNC release, the Total Lean launch has proved successfuland should help the chain avoid a drastic sales loss after it eliminates ephedraproducts from GNC's shelves.