HYDERABAD: DR Reddy’s Laboratories announced the commercial launch of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug for Covid-19 on Monday. It was developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s.
2-DG is an oral drug, which can be administered only on prescription and under the supervision of a qualified physician to hospitalised patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 symptoms as an adjunct therapy to the existing standard of care. Emergency use approval for the drug was granted on May 1, 2021. In a press release, Dr Reddy’s said that it will supply the medicine to major government as well as private hospitals across India.
The company said that in the initial weeks it will make the drug available in hospitals across all metro cities and Tier 1 cities, and subsequently, expand the coverage to the rest of India. The medicine has a purity of 99.5 per cent. The MRP of each 2-DG sachet has been fixed at `990 and the price will be subsidised for government institutions. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Chairman, Satish Reddy, said, “We are extremely pleased to have partnered with DRDO in our collective fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”