Drug Discovery Turns Fatal: Chennai based pharmacist dies after consuming experimental drug

Chennai:  In a tragic incident where a drug discovery turned fatal, a senior official of the city-based Sujatha Bio-Tech died after consuming a drug purportedly for controlling blood pressure, police said on Friday

"Sivanesan, 47, was working with Sujatha Bio-Tech. As per the company officials and his wife, Sivanesan was said to be working on a drug to control blood pressure," M.C. Ramesh, Inspector of Police at Teynampet Station, told IANS.

Ramesh said as per the complaint, Sivanesan gave the new drug to company founder Rajkumar who took it in small quantities and fainted.

On the other hand Sivanesan took a larger dose and fainted too and later died.

Ramesh said post mortem will be done after tests for Coronavirus infection is done, which is the practice now.

Sujatha Bio Tech is known for its cough syrup in sachet Nivaran, Velvette Shampoo and Memory Plus tablet. It is a 30 year old company it specialises in producing Ayurvedic and herbal products company.

Many media reports have claimed that the 47 year old pharmacist was attempting to make a drug for coronavirus. However, citing news reports that said the new drug was for Coronavirus cure, police said it is not known how the background got changed.