The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently announced an oral emergency drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), which will be used for the treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. Following the approval and the announcement, the body has not mentioned that 2-DG will now be available in the market from May 11 or May 12, 2021.
Information regarding the same was shared by DRDO President G.S. Satish Reddy who also claimed that the treatment of COVID-19 patients using the 2-DG drug would prove to be beneficial.
Results from the trials and studies showed that the usage of the drug improved the health of the patients significantly, and also reduced the dependency on supplemental oxygen which is currently being given during the treatment. Experts stated that once the treatment is successful, the patient's dependency on oxygen reduces in three days.
The drug, which is manufactured by Reddy's Lab, was recently approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). Initially, a minimum of 10,000 doses of 2-DG could be marketed and officials have mentioned that the patients should only take this medicine, if advised by the doctor.
As per reports, 2-DG has been tested multiple times in humans and the second phase of the test was conducted on 110 coronavirus patients across 11 hospitals across the country. This was held between May and October 2020, and those who were administered the drug recovered two and a half days earlier than those who did not.
The third phase of the trials was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021 across 27 hospitals across the country, including Maharashtra. A total of 42 per cent of the patients who participated in the same showed improvement in their condition, whereby the use of oxygen was no longer needed.
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