The race to develop an effective vaccine for thecoronavirus pandemic is still ongoing and countries are trying their best toproduce one. In the latest development, India has once again strived todevelop an indigenous anti-Covid drug.
This time the anti-viral drug has been developed by theDRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) and received theapproval from the country’s top drug controller for emergency use.
The news came at a time when India is battling againstthe contagious Covid-19 while reeling under the acute shortage of medicaloxygen, beds, etc.
The latest anti-Covid drug formed by DRDO is in powderform in a sachet and it can be taken orally by just dissolving in water.
The drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) has been developed atthe DRDO lab and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved theemergency use after the clinical trials projected that a molecule present inthe drug boosts the recovery of hospitalized patients and reduces the need ofmedical oxygen.
Apart from this, patients who were treated with this powderydrug tested Covid negative when their RT-PCT tests were conducted.
The second phase trials of the drug, which were done on110 patients took place between May and October 2020, the drug was found to besafe and effective as it showed that affected patients were recovering at afast pace.
The third round trials were conducted in six hospitalswith the “dose-ranging” in other 11 hospitals across India.
It may be noted here that India on Saturday recorded over4 lakh new infection cases with 4,187 fresh deaths.