Anti-COVID-19 Drug 2DG Priced At Rs 990

Already there is a huge fuss going on prices of the Covid-19 vaccines being produced by Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Dr. Reddy’s. With a request from the government of India, the prices are marginally lowered but the vaccines continue to remain expensive when compared with other countries. Despite the higher price, the Centre is not considering to remove the GST on vaccines.

Under these circumstances the anti-COVID-19 drug, 2DG (2 Deoxy-D-glucose) that was launched a few days by the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, got a price cap. The DRDO which developed the vaccine in association with Dr. Reddy’s has announced the price and it is Rs 990.

This cost is almost equivalent to that of the Covid-19 vaccine. The only catch here is, the drug will be made available at Central and state government hospitals at discounted price while in the open market, the prices are fixed and no change.

Another twist in the tale, it would take considerable time for the drug to be available in the open market. The drug is being rolled out preliminarily in Delhi and then for the rest of the country.