The Drugs Controller General of India had authorized the oral medication 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) developed by the DRDO for emergency use to treat COVID-19 infection.
The Drug will be available from June to hospitals across the country.
The drug was developed in cooperation with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in Hyderabad by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
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During clinical trials, the 2-DG treatment was shown to aid in the quicker rehabilitation of hospitalized patients as well as reduce the need for supplementary oxygen. The drug builds up in infected cells, halting viral synthesis and energy production and thereby preventing virus development. The 2-DG molecule is used to cure tumors and cancer cells because it’s a repurposed medicine.
A virus that is rapidly spreading in the body needs glucose to survive. The medicine would prevent the infection from spreading.
As per Dr. Anil Mishra, Director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, the drug’s mechanism is designed to stop any variant from multiplying since a growing virus, regardless of variant, requires nutrition and is thus struck by the drug.
Vardhan said at the launch that the medication would be the country’s “first indigenous research-based result” in fighting the outbreak and that it would “reduce recovery time and oxygen dependency.”
The acceptance comes as India struggles to deal with a deadly second wave of attacks. The healthcare sector is overburdened, and there are significant shortages in medical oxygen supplies and demand.
The medicine arrives in powder shape in a sachet and is ingested by dissolving it in water and swallowing it.
