DRDO and Dr. Reddy's have jointly developed a theraupeutic drug for COVID-19 patients. Named 2-DG, it has received emergency use authorisation and can be used in treatment of Covid-19 patients.

"It comes in powder form in a sachet and is consumed orally," the official statement today said.

Developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), which is an arm of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), this one has been partnered by Dr Reddy's Laboratories in Hyderabad.

The drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) can be used as adjunct therapy in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients. "Being a generic molecule and analogue of glucose, it can be easily produced and made available in plenty," DRDO today said.

In the clinical trials, higher proportion of patients treated with the drug showed RT-PCR negative conversion. "In efficacy trends, the patients treated with 2-DG showed faster symptomatic cure than Standard of Care (SoC) on various endpoints," the DRDO added.