NRI-created drink under FDA scanner after deaths

A popular high-caffeine energy drink, produced by a company founded by an Indian-American billionaire, has come under investigation in the US after reports of 13 deaths over the last four years. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is examining links between the energy drink and serious fatalities such as convulsions and heart attacks.

Lucknow-born Princeton dropout Manoj Bhargava's '5-hour Energy' drink has a cult following in the US and has propelled him to billionaire status. The drink is said to be particularly popular among truckers, party hoppers, students and other late-night persons.

The New York Times said since 2009, 5-Hour Energy has been mentioned in about 90 complaints filed with the FDA, including more than 30 that involved serious or life-threatening injuries like heart attacks, convulsions and even a spontaneous abortion, according to media reports, which add that the filing of an incident report with FDA does not necessarily mean that a product was responsible for a death or an injury or contributed in any way to it.

Still, the filings have invited scrutiny of the multi-billion dollar energy booster market in which Bhargava's 5-hour Energy, introduced in 2004, got a head start and has never looked back, despite other industry giants trying to catch up.

A Forbes magazine article earlier this year said that Bhargava was among the 400 wealthiest Americans with a net worth of $1.5 billion, and may be the wealthiest Indian in America. Some estimates put his net worth as high as $4 billion.

The readily available two-ounce caffeine and vitamin shot claims to have a 90 per cent market share in the energy shot sector and boasted of over $600 million in sales in 2011, according to Forbes.