Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday released the first batch of the anti-COVID-19 drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
Release of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) will boost India’s fight against the coronavirus.
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Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria were also present during the release of the 2-DG drugs.
Over 10,000 doses of the 2-DG drug, which comes in powder form and is taken orally by dissolving it in water, were launched on Monday.
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About 2-DG:
The drug has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s laboratory Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences.
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has been a partner and it is manufacturing the drug for public use.
How the drug works?
The drug is a repurposed drug as the 2-DG molecule is meant for treating tumour, cancer cells. This is a glucose analogue, which looks like glucose but is not.
The virus will take this glucose analogue and will get arrested. The drug will then stop the virus from multiplying.
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Director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Dr Anil Mishra, has explained i that the oxygen demand increases as the virus is multiplying fast in the body.