The first batch of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug will be launched next week
Bengaluru: In a major development, the first batch of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug will be launched next week.
A lab of Defence Research and Development Organisation INMAS had developed this anti-COVID drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
It is revealed that it is completely safe and will help patients recover faster, Dr Sudhir Chandna, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) scientist, had said last Sunday.
Dependence on oxygen of Covid-19 patients may reduce when 2-DG medicine is used along with standard care, as per data from a study by the INMAS-DRDO scientists. It also indicated that the recovery of patients was 2-3 days faster.
It adds that the data from Phase 3 trials of 2-DG showed that by the third day, freedom from oxygen dependence was seen in 42 per cent of patients as compared to 31 per cent of patients who were in standard care.
"During clinical trials, it has yielded an effective result in curing patients infected with COVID-19. The medicine has gone through clinical trials on around 110 patients in the second phase. In the third phase, it was tried on 220 patients. It has shown better efficacy in phase two itself as compared to the standard care," Dr Chandna was quoted as saying.
"This data has indicated that oxygen dependence reduced in a better way when we use this medicine along with standard care," he had added.
Swarajya noted that the the first batch will comprise of 10,000 doses of 2-DG. It will be administered to patients as an adjunct therapy or an alternative treatment to assist the primary treatment.
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