When 32-year-old graphic designer Matthew Cornier decided to work late, he went to a convenience store and purchased several shot-sized bottles of Neptune’s Fix, a purported dietary supplement sold with a claim that it will improve mental focus. Several hours later Cornier was found dead in his office after only having consumed one bottle.

Unbeknownst to Cornier, and many other users of Neptune’s Fix, this innocent-appearing product—sold at convenience stores, gas stations and smoke shops—and marketed as “Happiness in a Bottle” contains a dangerous ingredient called tianeptine, which is unregulated in the United States. To be clear: tianeptine does not meet the statutory definition of a dietary supplement, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While in some European, Asian and Latin American countries tianeptine has been approved in low dosages for medical use as an antidepressant, it has not been approved for any medical use in the United States. Neptune’s Fix and other products with tianeptine have been “illegally sold with claims to improve brain function and treat anxiety, depression, pain, opioid use disorder and other conditions,” according to an FDA warning issued on Nov. 21, 2023.