The 2-deoxy-D-glucose drug was said to be made as an affordable option, being indigenously co-developed by the DRDO, INMAS and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
Dr. Reddy’s announcement of the drug’s price tag to be Rs 990 per sachet is far from what was promised in an official statement.
In May, the company had said the prices would be determined “with the view of making it accessible and affordable to as many patients as possible.”
Deepak Sapra, CEO, API and Services, from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories on June 8 regarding the price announcement said that the goal is to “maximise production” and “make it available” as much as possible “to patients all over the world.”
According to the Defence Ministry, it helped in faster recovery of the hospitalised patients and reduced the oxygen dependency level in clinical trials. They said, “It is expected to save precious lives by its mechanism of operation on the infected cells, and will also reduce the hospital stay of COVID-19 patients.”
The demand of the 2-DG drug is extremely high whereas the supply is limited, an official told a news agency about considering to allow 3-4 more firms to produce the drug. The central government assumes that this will help to ramp up the production of the much needed drug.
Howsoever, the pricing of the said drug is still of a debatable issue as it is of almost a thousand rupees.
