NEW DELHI, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government Monday launched the first batch of its indigenous anti-COVID-19 drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
The drug developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), in the southern city Hyderabad, is used to treat COVID-19 patients.
The first batch of the drug was handed over by the federal defense minister Rajnath Singh to the federal health minister Harsh Vardhan in the national capital New Delhi.
The 2-DG drug was recently given approval for emergency use from the Drugs Controller General of India.
India has been hit by a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections.
The health ministry Monday morning said 281,386 new cases and 4,106 related deaths were registered in the past 24 hours across the country.
