BDR Pharma, based in Mumbai, has received approval and signed a license agreement with the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) and the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of 2- Deoxy-D-Glucose (2-DG) in India.

Last month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the oral medication for emergency usage as adjuvant therapy in mild to severe COVID-19 patients.

2-DG was discovered to speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and to lessen the need for supplementary oxygen in COVID-19 patients.

Commenting on the development Dharmesh Shah, CMD, BDR Pharmaceuticals, expressed, "This arrangement aims to ensure that this drug reaches as many eligible Indian patients as possible who are suffering from the devastating pandemic. We aim to ramp up the availability of successful treatment and coordinate manufacturing so that there is no scarcity of drugs to give to people fighting the disease. We expect that by widening and deepening the identification and development of COVID-19 therapy options, this collaboration can address more unmet medical needs."

BDR has applied to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted emergency use authorization to manufacture Drug 2-DG to treat COVID-19 patients in India. For the development of 2-DG drugs, the DRDO has recently signed agreements with four major Indian generic medicine producers.