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.

Indian pharmacist died and his boss was left hospitalised after the pair drank a chemical concoction they had developed in an effort to treat coronavirus, police said Saturday.

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.