People lined up to give swab samples for Covid-19 assessments, in Bengaluru. (Representational picture)
The first batch of anti-COVID drug 2-DG, developed by the DRDO, will be released on Monday (May 17) by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, officers mentioned.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) has permitted the oral drug for emergency use as an adjunct remedy in reasonable to extreme coronavirus sufferers, the defence ministry mentioned earlier this month.
The officers mentioned the first batch of the drug will be released by the 2 ministers at an occasion on the headquarters of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The ministry, on May 8, mentioned the medical trials of the drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), confirmed that it helps in a quicker restoration of hospitalised sufferers and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.
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The approval of the drug has come at a time when India is grappling with a record-breaking wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has stretched the nation’s healthcare infrastructure to its restrict.
“In the ongoing second COVID-19 wave, a large number of patients are facing severe oxygen dependency and need hospitalisation. The drug is expected to save precious lives due to the mechanism of its operation in the infected cells. This also reduces the hospital stay of COVID-19 patients,” the ministry had mentioned.
The anti-COVID therapeutic software of the drug has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a number one laboratory of the DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) in Hyderabad.
The drug is available in a powder kind in a sachet and is taken orally by dissolving it in water, the ministry mentioned.
In efficacy traits, it mentioned, sufferers handled with 2-DG confirmed a quicker symptomatic treatment than the usual of care (SoC) on numerous endpoints.
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