BENGALURU: Indian drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd said on Friday it expects to get 36 million
doses
of
Sputnik
V Covid-19 vaccine in the next couple of months under its contract with
Russia
's sovereign wealth fund.
India's catastrophic second wave of the pandemic has led to huge demand for
vaccines
, which in turn has left the country, the world's biggest vaccine producer, low on stocks.
"We are in discussions with the
Russian Direct Investment Fund
(
RDIF
) to import the vaccine towards the end of May," a senior Dr. Reddy's executive said on a post-earnings press conference.
"Our total commitment contracted from RDIF is 250 million doses, of which the initial 15%-20% is expected through imports," the executive, M V Ramana, added.
The company expects to use the doses to vaccinate 125 million people in the next 8-12 months.
As of Friday, India had vaccinated just over 2.9% of its population of about 1.35 billion, according to government data. Sputnik V is a two-dose shot which has been found to be 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing Covid-19, a higher efficacy rate than the two vaccines currently approved in India.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Reddy's said the first dose of Sputnik V was administered in Hyderabad as part of a limited pilot. The vaccine will be priced at 995 rupees ($13.58) per dose. The company is also working with six local manufacturing partners to scale up production, with doses for commercial use expected from July.
The drugmaker on Friday reported a 27.6% drop in fourth-quarter consolidated net profit, compared with a year earlier. Revenue, however, rose 6.7%.