BDR Pharma has added the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) drug 2-DG to its kitty of Covid-19 products.
The company has received an approval and signed a licence agreement with DRDO’s Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) and the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) for the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2-DG) in India, said BDR.
Last month, the DCGI approved the oral medication for emergency usage as an adjuvant therapy in mild-to-severe Covid patients. BDR also makes other Covid-19 products such as favipiravir, remdesivir, baricitinib and amphotericin B.
BDR said 2-DG will be priced competitively. It has sought DCGI approval for restricted emergency-use authorisation in India. The product will be available in powder form in a sachet that can be consumed orally after being dissolved in water.
DRDO has alliances with with other drug companies as well on the drug.
The DRDE in Gwalior had produced 2-DG, and clinical trials were carried out in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories by INMAS, a DRDO lab. After receiving positive responses in Phase-II and Phase-IIb trials, DCGI permitted 2-DG phase-III trials in November 2020. The Phase-II trial, which lasted from December 2020 to March 2021, enrolled 220 patients. The medicine was discovered to speed up the recovery of Covid patients in hospitals and to lessen the need for supplementary oxygen in patients, the company said.