Hisar mind behind DRDO’s Covid starver

HISAR: DRDO’s new drug that cures Covid two to three days quicker comes by the efforts of a former Haryana Agricultural University student from this town.
Sudhir Chandna is additional director in Defence Research and Development Organisation.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the medicine for emergency use, while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, as collaborator, will bring it to the market in a week to 10 days, for cost price. Asked how the drug works, Sudhir Chandna told TOI: "To say it briefly, it snatches the bread of Covid-19 virus, starving it to death."
Sudhir Chandna said DRDO scientist Anant Bhatt was his partner in research and chairman G Satheesh Reddy his principal supporter. When he got all the studies about the virus in April 2020, he sent the research proposal the same month and started tests in Hyderabad.
In May 2020, the drug controller approved the clinical trial, and the Phase-2 trials continued till October. In November 2020, Phase-3 trials were approved and went on from December to April. On May 1, the drug was approved for emergency use. Dr Reddy’s Labs is engaged in its production.
The existing treatment is combined with this 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug, which helps a patient recover two to three days in advance. The Covid-19 virus grows in the body cells, so it undergoes some metabolic changes. This drug enters the infected cells and snatches the virus’ source of energy, which stunts its growth and it lets go of the cells.
The DRDO scientist studied in several cities of Haryana. Sudhir’s father, J D Chandna, has been a district and sessions judge in Haryana, known for fast-track court and many important verdicts. Sudhir was born in his ancestral house of Rampura locality near the Hisar railway station in October 1967. After his birth, his father made it to the Haryana Judicial Service, and his job took Sudhir to schools in Bhiwani, Bahadurgarh, Panipat, Karnal, and Hansi.
He did BSc from Chandigarh’s DAV College in 1985 and MSc in microbiology from HAU in the year 1987-89. During PhD in 1990, he entered the DRDO as a scientist. He has served in Gwalior from 1991 to 1993 and then the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied sSciences (INMAS), Delhi.