Mankind Pharma gets DRDO nod to make Covid drug

Drug firm Mankind Pharma on Thursday said it has received licence from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to manufacture and market oral 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), used for the treatment of Covid-19.

2-DG was developed by the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior. 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 Laboratories, Mankind Pharma said in a statement.

The company will manufacture the product at its facilities in Visakhapatnam and Himachal Pradesh, it added. The office of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on May 1 had permitted the emergency use of 2-DG as an adjunct treatment for moderate to severe Covid-19 patients, Mankind Pharma said.

The drug is found to help the hospitalised Covid-19 patients recover faster and is also known to reduce the supplemental oxygen dependency among the Covid-19 patients, it added. "Our objective behind this agreement is to ensure maximum reach of this medication to the deserving Indian patients suffering from the deadly pandemic," the company said.