Just like Covaxin and Covishield, the indigenously-developed drug, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), for management of coronavirus would not come cheap either. The 2-DG has been priced at a steep Rs 990 per sachet.
The drug has been developed by scientists at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a DRDO lab, and is being commercialised by pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. It was considered to be homemade and hence, was anticipated to be affordable.
Dr Reddy’s had last month issued a statement saying that the pricing of the drug was “being determined with a
view to making it accessible and affordable to as many patients as possible”.
The price was announced by Deepak Sapra, CEO, API & Services, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories who said: “The goal at Dr Reddy’s is to maximise production and make it accessible as much as possible to patients all over the country in as short a time frame as possible.”
The Government on Tuesday capped the price per dose to be charged by private hospitals for Covid-19 vaccines. Covishield will be available at Rs 780 while
Covaxin at Rs 1,410 and one will have to shell out Rs 1,145 for the Sputnik jabs.
This includes the vax price, service charge of Rs 150 and GST of 5 per cent.
For its part, the DRDO has now invited the Indian
pharmaceutical industry to produce it after the technology is transferred to the selected companies.
Giving details, officials said the government has called for Expression of Interest from the industry to manufacture 2-DG.
Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients.