DRDO gives licence to Laurus Labs to make & market 2-DG

Hyderabad-based pharma player Laurus Labs 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 licence to Laurus Labs has been granted by DRDO as part of efforts to make the drug affordable and accessible to patients.

DRDO had recently invited expression of interest (EoI) from other pharma companies for manufacturing this drug and had said it would grant licences to 15 companies on a first-come, first-served basis. Meanwhile, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research institution Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) has been licencing the know-how for 2-DG synthesis to other companies, including Lee Pharma, Suven Pharma, Anthem Biosciences and Nosch Labs.