Just when India is battling with the second wave of coronavirus, the Drugs Controller General of India announced a  new drug named 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2-DG drug that can significantly reduce a covid patient’s stay in the hospital. The drug reduces the need for medical oxygen by stopping the virus to grow more in the infected cells.

Explaining further, the DRDO chief said the drug will help neutralize most of the COVID-19 symptoms and will prevent the growth of the virus inside the body. Regarding the availability of the drug, Reddy said arrangements for proper distribution across all hospitals need to be done and a team is already working on the same. It will be rolled out by May 11. 

Demographic breakdown by Age for India and Italy, and Death Rate by Age for #COVID19.
https://t.co/HHzqdl89kl pic.twitter.com/3kWRRVcdVd

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) March 11, 2020

Talking about the drug, the DRDO chief also said it would help improve the level of oxygen in the body. They claim that the drug will be beneficial for covid patients within three days of consumption. 

The Ministry of Defense, Said: The drug comes in powder form in the sachet, which is taken orally by dissolving it in water. The drug has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use. 

From testing of DRDO and Dr Reddy Lab’s 2-DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose) on coronavirus in cell culture at CCMB to successfully clearing the phase 3 trials, it will now be used on moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. DCGI approval has come.https://t.co/91be7W2aKU

— CCMB (@ccmb_csir) May 8, 2021

As per the Ministry, the patients who were given the said drug started showing improvements by the third day, and their need for medical oxygen reduced significantly. The comparison was made with patients who were not given the drug. It is also said that 2-DG is not known to have any worrisome side effects.

The anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the 2-DG drug has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with with with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) in Hyderabad. 

The work on the drug started in 2020 right after the pandemic and got approval after almost a year.