direct oxidation pathway" refers to the metabolic pathway also known as the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), which is sometimes called the hexose monophosphate shunt or the Warburg-Dickens pathway.
It produces NADPH, a reducing agent crucial for various biosynthetic processes, and pentose sugars like ribose-5-phosphate, which are needed for nucleotide synthesis.
Parallel to glycolysis:
While glycolysis primarily produces ATP, the direct oxidation pathway operates alongside it to generate the necessary building blocks for other cellular functions.
