India: Pharmacist dies after drinking self-made Covid-19 ‘cure’

(NST) – An Indian pharmacist died and his boss was left hospitalised after the pair drank a chemical concoction they had developed in an effort to treat Covid-19 coronavirus, police said on Saturday.

The men worked for a herbal medicine company and were testing their treatment – a mix of nitric oxide and sodium nitrate – at a home in southern Chennai city.

K Sivanesan, 47, died on the spot, said local police chief Ashok Kumar. His colleague Rajkumar was recovering from the poisoning.

Kumar said Sivanesan bought the chemicals from a local market and developed the formula after conducting research on the internet.

There are no approved medicines or vaccines for treating Covid-19, triggering a global race for a new drug for the disease that has killed nearly 300,000 people.

Nearly 60,000 cases have been detected in India, which has imposed a drastic nationwide lockdown in an effort to halt the spread of the disease.