Not-Guilty Plea From Founder of Metabolife

The founder of Metabolife International Inc. pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges of lying to the Food and Drug Administration about the dangers of a diet supplement containing ephedra, the now-banned herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths.

Michael J. Ellis, who founded Metabolife in 1995, appeared in U.S. District Court in San Diego on six counts of making false statements to the FDA and two counts of trying to obstruct the agency’s attempt to regulate supplements containing ephedra.

In a statement, the company said it planned to contest the allegations and said it no longer sold ephedra-based products. Last week, when the charges were announced, Metabolife dismissed the allegations as “utterly baseless” and accused the government of heavy-handed tactics, such as confronting people at gunpoint.

An attorney for Metabolife, which also was named in the charges, entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of the company. A motion hearing is scheduled for September.

Ellis, 51, did not speak with reporters.

According to court documents, in 1988 Ellis appeared in the same courthouse on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine, a drug that shared a key ingredient -- ephedrine -- with Metabolife 356, the weight-loss supplement that made him wealthy. In a deal with prosecutors, Ellis pleaded guilty to using a telephone to further a drug deal and received five years of probation.

Until the Bush administration halted sales of ephedra this year, Metabolife was one of the nation’s biggest sellers of dietary supplements.

According to reports filed with the FDA, ephedra has been linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes, including that of Steve Bechler, a 23-year-old pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles who died during spring training last year.

Federal prosecutors said Ellis lied when he told the FDA in 1998 and again in 1999 that his company had “never received one notice from a consumer that any serious adverse health event has occurred because of the ingestion of Metabolife 356,” according to the indictment.