When infected by a virus, the symptoms can be very similar to that of a bacterial infection. That’s why people struggle to recover after taking antibiotics, which only work against bacteria and not viruses. EZC Pak was created by Sarath Malepati to treat both and get rid of all the confusion. He pitched his product on Shark Tank and got a deal with Kevin O’Leary. As of 2023, EZC Pak is worth $4 million.
About the Founder
Dr. Sarath Malepati is a physician who operates in Lomita Boulevard, California. He obtained his medical education at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Malepati interned at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for a year, before completing his residency at San Joaquin General Hospital. After this, he spent the next two decades of his life practicing general surgery.
In the latter half of his career, he focused on taking care of patients with viral and bacterial infections. Currently, the California physician is a Medical Director at the PPC Group.
Founding the Company
At his job, Sarath discovered antibiotics were being overused by the public and overprescribed by doctors. People take this type of medication when they get a cough, runny nose, sore throat, or anything similar.
However, antibiotics can only treat bacteria, and these symptoms can also be caused by viruses. Unnecessary antibiotic exposure induces normal bacteria in the gut to overgrow and cause serious problems. The general surgeon was passionate about doing something to tackle the problem.
He researched and developed EZC Pak, a supplement that takes care of bacteria and viruses by boosting your immune system. The five-day immune support pack was introduced to the market in 2019.
Shark Tank Appearance
A year after launching, Dr. Sarath Malepati was in need of someone who could help drive publicity around the product. He appeared on season 11 of Shark Tank, seeking $125,000 for a 5% equity stake.
The doctor started off well, but things went downhill when Mark Cuban disagreed with some of his medical claims. Typically anything health related tends to make Cuban cautious. During the pitch, Lori Greiner got annoyed as she felt she was ignored and made some harsh remarks. The irony of when Lori was explaining herself, the other Sharks were talking over her.
Despite having a rocky pitch, Malepati got an offer from Kevin O’Leary. After some negotiation, the two agreed on $125,000 for 5% equity and $1 royalty per unit sold until they reached $450,000 in sales.
After Shark Tank
Not long after the episode aired, the pandemic hit and it became a huge driver of sales. Most Shark Tank companies struggled during this period but EZC Pak was thriving. The deal never closed with Kevin O’Leary as most likely Sarath didn’t like the royalty aspect of the deal. A royalty would have sucked up too much capital.
According to Benzinga.com, online sales rose by 850%, which helped the company create new variations of its product. They are now available at Walmart, CVS, Market Basket, Davidson Drugs, Amazon, HyVee, and EZCPak.com.
Their original product was a big hit on Amazon, where it has a 4.6-star rating from 2,018 customer reviews. EZC Pak is thriving and should be making around $2-$3 million in annual revenue with a net profit of less than $500,000. Currently, EZC Pak is worth $4 million.
