Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has announced the commercial launch of 2DG, an anti-COVID19 drug. The maximum retail price (MRP) of each sachet has been fixed at Rs 990 by pharma major. 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) is an oral anti-viral drug for Covid-19 patients. The drug has generated a lot of curiosity after it was launched on May 17 by the Ministry of Defence. It has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading laboratory of the DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) in Hyderabad.2-DG has a purity of 99.5 per cent and will be sold commercially under the brand name 2DG.Dr Reddy’s will supply to state governments as well as private hospitals across the country. In the initial weeks, the company will make the drug available in hospitals across metros and Tier 1 cities, and subsequently expand coverage to the rest of India.The pharma major said that it started the mass production of the drug in the first week of June. The drug will be provided to the government at a discounted price. The Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) had approved the oral drug for emergency use as an adjunct therapy to treat severe Covid patients. According to the Ministry of Defence, the drug during clinical trials showed that it facilitates faster recovery of hospitalised Covid patients and reduces dependence on supplemental oxygen. Higher proportion of patients treated with 2-DG showed RT-PCR negative conversion in COVID patients.In April 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, INMAS-DRDO scientists conducted laboratory experiments with the help of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and found that this molecule works effectively against SARS-CoV-2 virus and inhibits the viral growth.
