Armenicum

Armenicum is a drug invented in Armenia in 1998 whose developers claim it is an effective treatment for HIV infection and a number of associated diseases; its main ingredient is iodine, a general antiseptic, combined with dextrin, polyvinyl alcohol, sodium, potassium, lithium, and chloride, formulated as a blue-violet liquid supplied in 20 milliliter orange glass bottles. No rigorously monitored clinical trials of Armenicum have been published, and most HIV experts outside Armenia do not endorse its use. A 1999 BBC investigation raised serious doubts about its efficacy, with one expert saying he would not recommend taking the drug at all and a patient reporting being in a worse state after using it than before.