Pharma company Dr Reddy's fixes price of DRDO's anti-COVID drug at Rs 990

DRDO’s 2DG anti-COVID-19 drug has been priced at Rs 990 per sachet by Dr Reddy’s lab. News agency ANI quoted the government officials as saying that central and state government hospitals would be provided with the medicine at a discounted price.

The 2-DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose), an anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the drug has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr Reddys Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad. Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in the faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.

A 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.

According to senior DRDO officials, the second batch of the drug will be limited to 10,000 sachets and mass production is expected to begin in the first week of June.

Based on these results, the Drugs Controller General of Indias (DCGI) Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) permitted Phase-II clinical trial of 2- DG in COVID-19 patients in May 2020. The DRDO, along with its industry partner DRL, Hyderabad, started the clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of the drug in COVID-19 patients. In Phase-II trials (including dose ranging) conducted during May-October 2020, the drug was found to be safe in COVID-19 patients and showed significant improvement in their recovery.

Phase-II was conducted in six hospitals and Phase IIb (dose ranging) clinical trial was conducted at 11 hospitals all over the country. Phase-II trial was conducted on 110 patients.

It has been reported that the central government was considering involving three to more companies to ramp up the production of 2DG drug.