First batch of DRDO's anti-Covid drug to be released on Monday

[Deepak Kiran]

NEW DELHI: The first batch of anti-COVID drug 2-DG, developed by the DRDO, will be released on Monday by defence minister Rajnath Singh and health minister Harsh Vardhan, officials said.


The Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) has approved the oral drug for emergency use as an adjunct therapy in moderate to severe coronavirus patients, the defence ministry said earlier this month.


The officials said the first batch of the drug will b

The ministry, on May 8, said the clinical trials of the drug, -2deoxy-D-glucose
(2-DG), showed that it helps in a faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence

The approval of the drug has come at a time when India is grappling with a record-breaking wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has stretched the country's healthcare infrastructure to its limit.


"In the ongoing second COVID-19 wave, a large number of patients are facing severe oxygen dependency and need hospitalisation. The drug is expected to save precious lives due to the mechanism of its operation in the infected cells. This also reduces the hospital stay of COVID-19 patients," the ministry had said.

The anti-COVID therapeutic application of the drug has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading laboratory of the DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) in Hyderabad.


The drug comes in a powder form in a sachet and is taken orally by dissolving it in water, the ministry said.


In efficacy trends, it said, patients treated with 2-DG showed a faster symptomatic cure than the standard of care (SoC) on various endpoints.

 

[Deepak Kiran]

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday (May 17, 2021) released the first batch of the anti-COVID-19 drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) to strengthen India's fight against the coronavirus. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria were also present during the release.

Over 10,000 doses of the 2-DG drug, which comes in powder form and is taken orally by dissolving it in water, were launched.

The anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad

It was approved for emergency use as an adjunct therapy in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on May 1.


Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence. A higher proportion of patients treated with 2-DG showed RT-PCR negative conversion in COVID patients. The drug will be of immense benefit to the people suffering from COVID-19.


Back in April 2020, during the first wave of the coronavirus in India, the INMAS-DRDO scientists conducted laboratory experiments with the help of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad and found that this molecule works effectively against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and inhibits the viral growth. Based on these results, the DCGI Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) permitted Phase-II clinical trial of 2-DG in COVID-19 patients in May 2020.