The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday issued directions on how to use the new drug called 2-DG for Covid patients.
The patients under the care and prescription of doctors can be given the drug as the directions have been issued for its use.
“Ideally, 2DG should be prescribed as early as possible by doctors for moderate to severe Covid patients for a maximum duration of up to 10 days,” DRDO said in a statement.
Last month the first batch of DRDO-developed anti-Covid drug was launched to treat patients suffering from the deadly disease. The medicine comes in form of powder and can be taken with water.
The patients with high diabetes, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), cardiac arrest, severe hepatic and renal impairment have not been studied yet so they need some extra caution said the DRDO.
It also stated that, the anti-covid drug should not be given to pregnant and lactating women and patients below 18 years.
If the drug is successful in helping in the faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces oxygen dependence then this could be a game-changer in the battle against the pandemic.
In the clinical trial of the drug the results have shown that the drug helps in the quick recovery of hospitalized patients and also reduces supplemental oxygen dependence. Hence, higher proportion of patients treated with 2-DG showed RT-PCR negative conversion in Covid patients in results.
In phase 2 trials of the medicine conducted between May and October last year, the drug was found to be safe for Covid-19 patients and effective in cutting short the hospital stays of Covid patients and reducing their supplemental oxygen dependence.
In April last year during the first wave of the pandemic, INMAS-DRDO scientists conducted laboratory experiments with the help of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and found that this molecule works effectively against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and inhibits viral growth.