‘Sputnik vaccine should get nod by March-April’

Swati.Bharadwaj@timesgroup.com

Covid

brought not just the usual business disruptions for

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories

but also cyberhackers knocking on its doors. The pharma giant’s co-chairman & managing director

G V Prasad

says the Sputnik V vaccine, which it is producing, should get the government’s nod by March-April, as the phase III trial will be completed by Feb-end...

How did Covid impact your business?

We did not have a business challenge but had operational challenges that we tackled well. Initially, we had a lot of Covid-positive people, but we did a good job of testing daily and isolating people, so operations recovered very fast. We doubled our transport fleet and reduced the number of people on the shop floor by combining some tasks and creating 12-hour shifts.

How far has business returned to normal?

It’s normal. In the last three quarters, we showed growth over the previous year. However, we still have some problems in one of our sites at Mexico, where attendance is very low.

What strategic business realignments did the pandemic necessitate?

We had to react to the Covid situation and launched two products here (Favipiravir and Remdesivir). We are still doing some

clinical trials

and are hoping to get the Sputnik vaccine distributed. Anti-virals were never a part of our portfolio. But as the country needed it, we reacted very fast and got the products into the market in record time.

Any update on the

Sputnik

V rollout?

We have a 1,500-patient trial (phase III) going on. We were asked to do 1,600 (phase II/III). The larger trial (in Russia) is ending almost. So, in February-end, we will get the full data package. We will add our data to that and submit it to the government. I think by March-April, we should get approval.

What was the impact of the cyberattack? Was it related to the vaccine?

Several companies faced cyberattacks. It was more like an inconvenience that needed some effort to remediate. Nothing of a permanent nature.

What new opportunities has Covid unlocked?

Covid itself is a fleeting opportunity. We don’t consider it as a very strategic opportunity because, sooner or later, it will be contained. But the overall focus on

healthcare

will improve. The digitisation of healthcare is happening at an unprecedented speed and the ‘

Amazonisation

’ or ‘

Uberisation

’ of healthcare will happen.