Hydroxychloroquine and India-An Age Old Connection

“Hydroxychloroquine” -Well I guess it is one of the most popular words on the internet right now, giving competition to coronavirus, COVID19, social distancing and self-quarantine (pun intended). India has been requested by so many countries to supply the formulation.

But do you know that the history of hydroxychloroquine has a very intimate relationship with Tipu Sultan’s capital Seringapatnam?  Ever heard your parents or grandparents asking you to go and get a tonic for curing any ailment? Do you know that the origin of this term is also related to this chemical in a way? The drug even has a distant, yet not entirely irrelevant connection with Vijay Mallya. Finding it difficult to believe? Read on.

How does it relate to Tipu Sultan?

The connection dates back to 1799, when Tipu Sultan got defeated by the British army, under Lord Wellesley (well the fourth battle of Mysore is itself a intricately woven story of bravery and deception, but we will talk about that on some other day). Mysore was annexed to the British territories.

But the British celebrations of this huge victory didn’t last long. Within a few weeks the mighty British army was brought down to it’s knees by a tiny insect that caused havoc among it’s ranks-the mosquito. The area around Seringapatnam is marshy and humid, thereby providing a perfect breeding ground for the mosquitoes and a wave of malaria took down a good number of British soldiers. While the local Indian population has developed self-immunity over a long period of time, the same was not benefit was not available to the foreigners.

The immediate reaction of the British authorities was a shift of base to Bangalore-which by virtue of its lower temperature and lesser humidity turned out to be a much more comfortable for the British soldiers. But since the mosquitoes ruled there with equal vigor, the menace of malaria among the soldiers continued.

This is the same time when Quinine was discovered in Europe. So, the authorities grabbed the opportunity and imported huge quantity of the drug and distributed it among soldiers for mass-level testing. Even the healthy soldiers were instructed a regular dose to create immunity against the dreaded disease. The use spread out to other British stations across India as the prevalence of malaria was more or less prominent in most areas of the country. The results were definitely encouraging.

Now comes the Gin and Tonic and the Mallyas:

While most of the sick soldiers recovered quickly, new cases emerged every now and then. It was revealed upon investigation that people were reluctant to take adequate dosage of the medicine, owing to its particularly bitter taste.

In a bid to persuade the soldiers, the top management of East India Company and the scientists discovered that when mixed with Juniper based liquor the medicine lost its bitter flavor. In fact, the molecular structure was such that the ultimate formulation has a pleasant sweet flavor.

This juniper-based liquor was Gin. While the Gin mixed with quinine was known as Gin & Tonic. This became an instant hit among the British soldiers. The Gin & Tonic has remained a very popular cocktail even to these days. In fact it became so popular that tonic became the synonym for any western medicine in the Indian villages.

The British authorities built several breweries and liquor distillation factories in and around Bangalore (Bengaluru) to cater to the rising demand all over India, turning the area into the Pub Capital of the country.  After Indian independence, most of this factories were purchased from the British by Vittal Mallya, the father of Vijay Mallya. He then led the consortium under the banner of United Breweries, centered in Bengaluru.

Over the time many variants of Quinine has been developed to treat malaria and Hydroxychloroquine has eventually emerged as the best choice among the physicians, owing to its effectivity in curing the disease and lesser side-effects in comparison to its predecessors.

As on date it has become the most sought-after drug in the world as certain empirical evidences of it being effective against coronavirus infection has been obtained.
                                                                                                                                 Aniruddha Dey

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