Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/359372
70 / the tasting panel / august 2014 COVER STORY Building a Better Buzz The NTX's technology was developed by a team of PhDs in the pharma industry commissioned by Chigurupati to come up with a better way of drink- ing. The 31-year-old entrepreneur, who lacks no confidence, says he did it out of a desire to "aid in the evolution of mankind." And to be perfectly honest, he says, he likes to enjoy a buzz without fretting about his health. "In college, I loved to drink, and the thing I was most worried about was not a hangover, but my liver," he said, speak- ing like a true doctor's child. "I knew [eventually] there was a way to make alcohol better for the liver, but I didn't know how to go about doing it," he said. NTX was an eight-year research proj- ect conducted by Chigurupati's spe- cially assembled team at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. It's composed of ingredients classified as GRAS, aka "Generally Recognized As Safe" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The compound has been extensively tested on lab animals, and with a recently completed study on humans, shows no added side effects in addition to those usually experienced from consuming any distilled spirits product. The human study trial results will be published in the coming months, but Chigurupati did reveal the outcome was astonishing...up to 93% decrease in the harmful effects to the liver. The complete reveal for NTX is yet to come (its patent is still pending), but Chigurupati gave THE TASTING PANEL a few hints of what to expect. Chigurupati said NTX works by blocking the harmful substances in alcohol from reaching the liver, and helps the body recover more quickly afterwards. When NTX is infused in a spirit, he says it dramatically reduces stress on the liver. NTX has received U.S. government approvals to market the formula in spirits, and Chigurupati is working with distilled spirits manufacturers to determine which spirits might be best suited for the liver-loving technology. That, too, is under wraps. The Man Who's Looking Out for Your Liver Chigurupati said that while the research stems from his family's background in the pharmaceutical pain reliever sector, he was not the most likely candidate in his family to take on such a project. Reared in a province of India known for its technology and pharma industry, he attended strict schools, where he quickly established himself as a rebel. A formal British-style education was not for him, and like many others of his generation and socio-economic status, he went abroad for college. At Boston University, Chigurupati studied business and entrepreneurship, but became interested in psychology and pharmacology. "At the end of the day, I believe psychology is the way to the world. The ability to understand people better will give you the ability to understand what's needed in the world and how to get things done," he said. It was a course in drug abuse and behavior that, he says, "changed my whole life." For the first time, science, which he abandoned in his youth, began to make sense to him. "I fell in love with the subject. I started reading and taking courses on the brain, neurotransmitters, and slowly getting into the pharmacology of the body, then basic chemistry," he recalled. "I kept building one on top of the other, and before I knew it, busi- ness didn't interest me anymore: it was the sciences I fell in love with." After graduation, he worked for his father and grandfather's pharma- ceutical companies until founding Chigurupati Technologies in 2006 for the purpose of improving the "user experience" of over-the-counter drugs. Initially Chigurupati's team was charged with finding a formula that reduced some of the negative side effects of a certain class of pain relievers. Their results (again, secret) satisfied FDA guidelines, but ran into other industry-sensitive hurdles with huge pharma corporations. "I developed a distaste for large multinational companies that didn't seem to care for [people], and I decided my goal in life is to aid in the evolution of mankind," Chigurupati said grandly and earnestly. "I decided if I wanted to make a change in the world, I would have to go directly to the consumer with the technology, so the [big compa- nies] are no longer the gatekeepers." He halted his fledgling project and changed direction with the creation of NTX, a never-before-explored category of compounds to address an all-too- common concern for consumers of alcoholic beverages. "Everything I get into are things that bug me in the world. And if they bug me, they definitely bug the rest of humanity," he said. "Let's face it, we drink, I drink, to get the buzz—and if you're going to make alcohol that doesn't do that, I'm not going to drink it." NTX, he says, is "Scientific, preventa- tive and recreational all at the same time—while protecting the liver." Chigurupati considers that he's creat- ing a new category of science-meets- consumption that he calls "functional spirits": those that have science applied to them to "make your life better." "No one has ever done this in the market so far. Other than the fact that I like spirits and I wanted something better for the liver, it was an easy thing to get into because [this] market is the most un-evolved, non-innovative market in the world," he said. "Science has not been used in any way to benefit real consumer experience." Chigurupati's life philosophy also proved to be his business model: "If you can do something about it, do it yourself… and only complain if you have a solution." With the creation of NTX, he takes a huge step towards the control dash- board. Destination: better mankind. For more information visit www.DrinkSmarter.com "No one haS ever done this in the market so far. Other than the fact that I like spirits and I wanted something better for the liver, it was an easy thing to get into because [this] market is the most un- evolved, non-innovative market in the world."