Anti-Covid drug by DRDO cleared for emergency use

A drug developed by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) to treat Coronavirus patients has been approved for emergency use by the Drugs Controller General of India. The nod comes as India battles the second wave of the pandemic. The drug is meant for emergency use to treat moderate to severe patients. The drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, has been developed by DRDO's Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, the defence ministry said in a release.

The drug regulator has given nod to the drug for adjunct therapy in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. "Being a generic molecule and analogue of glucose, it can be easily produced and made available in plenty in the country," the defence ministry said. The patients treated with the drug showed faster symptomatic cure than standard of care. "A significantly favourable trend (2.5 days difference) was seen in terms of the median time to achieving normalization of specific vital signs parameters when compared to standard of care," it said. The drug comes in powder form in sachets and can be taken orally by dissolving it in water. According to the ministry, the drug accumulates in the virus-infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and energy production.