The world is fighting with a deadly virus since 2019 and so as India which is now battling with second wave of coronavirus in the country. However, a big relief has come from The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Saturday where they have approved a drug for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The drug has been developed by the DRDO for emergency use and it is named 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
According to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the drug 2-DG has been approved on Saturday and it can be used as an adjunct therapy for the patients of moderate to severe cases of Covid-19.
A DRDO official has stated that the clinical trial results of the drug have shown that this molecule is very helpful in fast recovery of the coronavirus patients while reducing the supplemental oxygen dependence at the same time.
This year in April, the DCGI has also granted the emergency approval to a similar kind of drug that has been produced by pharma giant Zydus Cadila. The drug named Virafin has also showed the similar kind of results as 2-DG. The consumption of the drug was capable of reducing the oxygen support need among the moderate cases of Covid-19 which was quite helpful for improving recovery time and rate.
Here’s everything you need to know abot 2-DG drug:
Talking about the invention of drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose, the 2-DG has been developed by DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) collaborating with the Dr Reddy’s Laboritories which is a Hyderabad based Indian pharmaceutical company. Their scientists conducted laboratory experiments of 2-DG during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020.
During the phase I trial, the scientists found out that this molecule is quite effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and prevents the growth of the virus in the body. On the basis of its results, the second Phase clinical trial of 2-DG was permitted by DCGI in May 2020 on the coronavirus positive patients.
The Phase-II trials were conducted from May to October 2020 where total number of 110 patients was part of this trial. The result of the drug was found to be safe while showing significant improvement in the recovery rate of the patients.
The 2-DG drug basically comes in sachets in the powder form and it has to be consumed orally by dissolving the drug into water. The Government of India in an official statement said that this drug gathers in the virus infected cells along with that it also prevents the growth of virus by preventing viral synthesis as well as energy production in the body by this deadly virus.
