DRDO COVID-19 Drug 2-DG To Be Manufactured, Marketed By Mankind Pharma As Firm Receives Approval

Mankind Pharma in a statement said 2-DG was developed by the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior.

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New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has given licence to drug firm Mankind Pharma to manufacture and market oral 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), which is used for the treatment of Covid-19.

Mankind Pharma in a statement said 2-DG was developed by the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior.

The drug firm added the clinical trials were conducted by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of DRDO, in association with Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

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Mankind Pharma will manufacture the product at its facilities in Visakhapatnam and Himachal Pradesh.

The office of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had on May 1 permitted the emergency use of 2-DG as an adjunct treatment for moderate to severe COVID-19 patients, PTI reported Mankind Pharma as saying.

The company said this drug is found to help the hospitalised coronavirus patients recover faster, adding it is also known to reduce the supplemental oxygen dependency among the Covid-19 patients.

Mankind Pharma further stated, “our objective behind this agreement is to ensure maximum reach of this medication to the deserving Indian patients suffering from the deadly pandemic”.