HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based pharma player Laurus Labs on Friday said it has received a licence from the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) for manufacturing and marketing Covid-19 drug 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2-DG) in India.
The company also said it has applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the drug. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which was the first to tie up with DRDO, has already received an EUA from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for use of the drug for moderate to severe hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
Scientists at Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), a DRDO lab, developed the drug in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s for cancer but last year decided to repurpose it for Covid-19.
The licence to Laurus Labs has been granted by DRDO as part of efforts to make 2-DG affordable and accessible to patients. DRDO had recently invited expression of interest (EoI) from pharma companies for manufacturing this drug.
Dr Reddy's rolled out the drug recently under the 2DG brand at Rs 990 per sachet. The oral drug comes in a powder form in a sachet and has to be taken by dissolving in water. It works by accumulating in virus infected cells and prevents growth of the virus by stopping energy production and viral synthesis.
Meanwhile, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research institution Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) has been licencing the knowhow for 2-DG synthesis to other companies, including Lee Pharma, Suven Pharma, Anthem Biosciences and Nosch Labs.
