Serum ties up with RDIF for 300 million of Sputnik V doses

MUMBAI: In what could bolster the supply of Russia’s Sputnik V in the country, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) will commence its production in September under a technology transfer initiated with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund,

Russian Direct Investment Fund

.


The companies intend to produce over 300 million doses of Sputnik V in India per year.

Sputnik V vaccine which was launched on a "soft pilot basis" by Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's, is facing delays in its commercial ramp up across cities, even after two months.

A report by Reuters on Monday quoting Dr Reddy’s said "India's full rollout of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine will have to be put on hold until the Russian producer provides equal quantities of its two differing doses."

The company is the sole distributor of the first 250 million doses of Sputnik V in India, which is imported at present.

The first batch of Sputnik vaccine is expected to be produced at SII’s facilities in September and be commercially available thereafter.

In June, the company received regulatory approval to manufacture the Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute and backed by

RDIF

.

As part of the technical transfer process, SII has already received cell and vector samples from the Gamaleya Center. With their import approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the cultivation process has begun, a statement from RDIF said.

Kirill Dmitriev CEO RDIF said there are some other manufactures as well which are ready to produce the Russia-developed vaccine in India. There is also a possibility that SII will in the future produce the mix-and-match dose combination of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and

Sputnik V. Global

studies are on to test the safety and efficacy of mix-and-match vaccines, and the initial results could be out as early as end of this month.

India is expected to become the leading production hub of Sputnik vaccine, with earlier agreements with companies including Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen, the company said. With the Serum partnership, the total manufacturing capacity for Sputnik V in India crosses 1.1 billion doses annually.

Adar Poonawalla CEO SII said, "Given the uncertainty of the virus, it is important for international institutes, and governments to collaborate and further bolster up our fight against the pandemic.”

Besides Covishield, SII will also manufacture Covovax (by US firm Novavax) and is conducting trials of Codagenix in UK.


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