Daily News Capsule

The drug controller general of India, DCGI has approved the emergency use of DRDO developed drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose as an adjunct therapy for covid-19 patients in moderate to severe conditions, said defense research and development organization on Saturday, 8 May.

“Being a generic molecule and analogue of glucose, it can be easily produced and made available in plenty,” said the DRDO in a statement.

From adjunct therapy, they refer to do it along with primary treatment. The use of 2DG drugs will be an alternative therapy for the patients, for assisting the primary methods of treatment.

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“The drug has been developed by DRDO lab Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. Clinical trials have shown that this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalized patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence,” the statement read.

The covid-19 patients treated with this method, showed a quicker symptomatic recovery than the standard of care on various endpoints in the efficacy trends, according to DRDO.

“A significantly favorable trend (2.5 days difference) was seen in terms of the median time to achieving normalization of specific vital signs parameters when compared to SOC,” it said.

The drug 2-DG comes in powder form packed in sachets, which is taken orally by dissolving into water.

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“It accumulates in the virus-infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and energy production,” said the DRDO.

In April 2020, the beginning phase of covid-19 pandemic INMAS-DRDO scientists with help of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad conducted laboratory experiments over the drug 2-DG.

From the experiment, they found that the drug is effective against coronavirus and inhibits its growth. After the result of the first trial, DCGI permitted it for a second trial in May 2020 in covid-19 patients.

In the second trial, which was held from May 2020 to October 2020 the drug was found to be safe and effective in the improvement of patient’s recovery.

“Phase IIa was conducted in 6 hospitals and Phase IIb (dose-ranging) clinical trial was conducted at 11 hospitals all over the country. Phase-II trial was conducted on 110 patients,” said the DRDO.