A small room. A handful of laboratory equipment. And a doctor trying to solve a problem that had defeated medicine for years. At Campbell Medical School in Calcutta, Upendranath Brahmachari was searching for a treatment for kala-azar, a disease that had devastated communities across India. The answer would come not from a grand laboratory, but from years of painstaking experimentation.
Born on December 19, 1873, in Jamalpur, Bihar, Brahmachari took an unusual route into medicine. He began with mathematics and chemistry, graduating from Hooghly Mohsin College in 1893 before pursuing a master’s degree in chemistry at Presidency College. He eventually turned to medicine, earning his MD in 1902 and a PhD for his research on haemolysis in 1904.
After teaching at Dacca Medical School, he joined Campbell Medical School in Calcutta in 1905. It was here that he began pursuing a treatment for kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by sand flies that affects organs such as the liver, spleen and bone marrow.
The existing treatment, tartar emetic, could be highly toxic and required lengthy courses. Brahmachari began experimenting with organic antimonial compounds, searching for a safer and more effective alternative. Working with limited resources, he eventually developed Urea Stibamine, a compound that would transform kala-azar treatment.
By 1925, the mortality rate of the disease had fallen to 10%, while the recovery rate reached 95%, according to a 2024 review published in Cureus.
The breakthrough travelled well beyond India, proving effective in countries including Greece, France and China. In 1929, Brahmachari was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work.
Yet his scientific curiosity did not end with one discovery. In 1922, he documented a skin condition in patients recovering from kala-azar, now known as dermal leishmanoid or Brahmachari’s dermal leishmaniasis. He also pursued research into malaria and other tropical diseases.
Even after retiring from government service in 1927, he remained active in medical education and research. He received several honours, including the Minto Medal and a knighthood in 1934.
Brahmachari died on February 6, 1946, aged 72.
