RDIF, Virchow Biotech ink pact to produce Sputnik V vaccine in India
The technology transfer is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021 followed by full-scale commercial production of Sputnik V, RDIF and Virchow Biotech said in a joint statement.
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Hyderabad-based Virchow Biotech on Monday announced an agreement to produce up to 200 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in India.
The technology transfer is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021 followed by full-scale commercial production of Sputnik V, RDIF and Virchow Biotech said in a joint statement.
Virchow Biotech capacities will help facilitate the global supply of Sputnik V to international partners of RDIF, it added.
"Vaccine partnerships are the only way to overcome the pandemic. The world continues its fight against coronavirus and we see a growing interest in the Sputnik V vaccine as it is one of the most efficient vaccines available. The agreement with Virchow Biotech is an important step to facilitate the full-scale local production of the vaccine in India and to supply our international partners globally," RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.
According to the statement, the efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6 percent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet.
"We are glad to sign a cooperation agreement with RDIF to produce the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Virchow's proven capabilities in large scale drug substance manufacturing should help meet the global demand for this vaccine", Virchow Biotech MD Tummuru Murali said.
On March 19, RDIF and India's Stelis Biopharma said they have partnered to produce and supply a minimum of 200 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
Sputnik V has been registered in 54 countries globally with a total population of over 1.4 billion people. The efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6 percent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.
The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context.)
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta