Bengaluru: A lab of Defence Research and Development Organisation INMAS developed the anti-COVID drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG)

It has even got an approval. 

Now, it is revealed that it is completely safe and will help patients recover faster, Dr Sudhir Chandna, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) scientist, said on Sunday.

Dependence on oxygen of Covid-19 patients may reduce when 2-DG medicine is used along with standard care, as per data from a study by the INMAS-DRDO scientists. It also indicated that the recovery of patients was 2-3 days faster, TimesNow reports. 

It adds that the data from Phase 3 trials of 2-DG showed that by the third day, freedom from oxygen dependence was seen in 42 per cent of patients as compared to 31 per cent of patients who were in standard care.

"During clinical trials, it has yielded an effective result in curing patients infected with COVID-19. The medicine has gone through clinical trials on around 110 patients in the second phase. In the third phase, it was tried on 220 patients. It has shown better efficacy in phase two itself as compared to the standard care," Dr Chandna was quoted as saying. 

"This data has indicated that oxygen dependence reduced in a better way when we use this medicine along with standard care," he added.