NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Adds Five Top Ophthalmologists to its Ophthalmic Advisory Board

NovaBay® Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NBY), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of its non-antibiotic anti-infective products, announced today that it has added four new members to its Ophthalmic Advisory Board (OAB), who will join the ten existing members of the board. The board oversees the development, marketing and medical use of NovaBay’s i-LidTM Cleanser and other eye care products.

NovaBay has also seen great interest and acceptance of i-Lid Cleanser from the Optometry community and will soon announce its success in establishing an Optometry Advisor Board composed of distinguished Doctors of Optometry from around the U.S.

The new members are Dr. Richard L. Lindstrom, founder and attending surgeon of Minnesota Eye Consultants and Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology; Dr. Edward J. Holland, Director of Cornea Services at the Cincinnati Eye Institute and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati; Dr. Terry Kim, Professor of Ophthalmology at Duke University School of Medicine, and Associate Director of the Corneal and External Disease Service and Refractive Surgery Service at the Duke University Eye Center; Dr. Francis Mah, Director of Cornea and External Disease and Co-Director of Refractive Surgery, Scripps Clinic Medical Group, La Jolla, CA; Russell N. Van Gelder, M.D., PhD., University of Washington Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology; and Dr. Randal Pham, Director of The Advanced Surgery Medical Center, San Jose, CA and a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.

The Ophthalmic Advisory Board members have shown in their own practices that i-Lid Cleanser is an important advance in the treatment of such conditions as blepharitis and dry-eye syndrome, from which an estimated 40 million Americans suffer. Current advisory board member Stephen Wilmarth, M.D., Refractive and Cataract Surgeon and Medical Director, Ophthalmic Surgery, at South Placer Surgery Center in the Sacramento, CA area, described i-Lid Cleanser as “a whole new way of dealing with germs. I believe it can make a real contribution to alleviating human suffering.”

“The fact that NovaBay has been able to attract the nation’s top ophthalmologists to its Ophthalmic Advisory Board is a testament to the medical benefits that i-Lid Cleanser brings,” said ophthalmologist Kathryn Najafi-Tagol, MD, Founder and Medical Director of the Eye Institute of Marin; co-developer of i-Lid Cleanser and an OAB member. “In my own practice, I find that the product has brought major improvements in treatment and patients’ quality of life.”

Dr. Najafi-Tagol and many of the other members of the OAB use i-Lid Cleanser with patients who suffer from blepharitis, a condition where Staphylococci bacteria grow on eyelids, causing swelling, redness, inflammation, irritation and a crusty build-up. Patients who’ve had these symptoms for years report that i-Lid Cleanser has finally brought relief from the often-painful condition. Lab tests also show that, in addition to killing bacteria, i-Lid Cleanser neutralizes the toxins produced by bacteria. That is why many doctors believe it is effective in dry eye syndrome, which typically results when Staph bacteria and the secretion of bacterial toxins cause the meibomian glands to be obstructed by thick waxy secretions. i-Lid Cleanser is now being used to remove both the bacteria and the bacterial toxins.

“All members of our Ophthalmic Advisory Board are national leaders in eye care,” said Dr. Ron Najafi, Chairman and CEO of NovaBay. “We are grateful that they are supporting our efforts to bring i-Lid Cleanser to the millions of Americans who can benefit from the product.”

Forward-looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements and opinions regarding the commercial and clinical potential of i-Lid Cleanser, which are based upon the company’s current expectations, assumptions, estimates, projections and beliefs. The words “believe,” “estimated,” and “expectation,” are intended to identify the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or achievements to be materially different and adverse from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the actual effectiveness of NovaBay products and unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of i-Lid Cleanser, and the risk that potential customers will not perceive the benefits of i-Lid Cleanser to be the same as NovaBay believes. Other risks relating to NovaBay and its products, including risks that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements in this press release, are detailed in NovaBay's latest Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially under the heading "Risk Factors." The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date, and NovaBay disclaims any intent or obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement except as required by law.

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