New Delhi-based Mankind Pharma has received the license to manufacture and market the oral 2-deoxy-D-glucose for the treatment of COVID-19 from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

2-DG was developed by the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior and 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 Laboratory.

Mankind Pharma will absorb the technology and manufacture the product at its manufacturing facilities located at Visakhapatnam and Himachal Pradesh. 2-DG is found to help the hospitalised COVID-19 patients recover faster and it is also known to reduce the supplemental oxygen dependency among the COVID-19 patients.

The drug comes in powder form in a sachet, which can be taken orally by dissolving it in water. It accumulates in the virus-infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and energy production. Its selective accumulation in virally infected cells makes this drug unique. In clinical trials, the patients treated with 2-DG showed faster symptomatic cure than Standard of Care (SoC) on various endpoints.