Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday released the first batch of Anti-COVID drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) to tackle the virus that is in its second wave.
The anti-COVID drug is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
According to DRDO Chairman Dr G Satheesh Reddy, the drug had gone through complete trials across 30 hospitals, on a large number of patients.
By next week, the first batch of 10,000 doses would be launched, DRDO officials told a news agency.
The drug comes in powder form in a sachet, which is 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.
It may be mentioned that a large number of patients are facing severe oxygen dependency and need hospitalisation. The drug is expected to save precious lives due to the mechanism of operation of the drug in infected cells. This also reduces the hospital stay of COVID-19 patients.
Meanwhile, India's daily COVID count remained below the 3 lakh mark for the first time in nearly 26 days as only 2,81,386 fresh infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, as per the data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family welfare on Monday.
The country also logged 4,106 new COVID deaths and 3,78,741.
The cumulative caseload stands at 2,49,65,463, including 2,11,74,076 recoveries, 35,16,997 active cases and 2,74,390 deaths.
Further, the ministry also informed that 10 States including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu cumulatively account for 74.69 per cent of India's total active cases.