Indian firm to make 200mn doses of Russia's Sputnik V

MOSCOW: The backer of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine said Monday it had signed an agreement with an India-based pharmaceuticals giant for the production of up to 200 million doses of the jab a year.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the country's sovereign wealth fund, said in a statement it has partnered with the Virchow Group to produce up to 200 million doses of the two-dose vaccine in India every year.

Virchow Biotech, a subsidiary of the Virchow Group, is expected to start full-scale commercial production in the first half of 2021, it said.

RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said the agreement was "an important step to facilitate the full-scale local production" of the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine in India and to supply partners around the world.

In a separate statement, RDIF said that over the past week it had secured production agreements with two other Indian manufacturers: Stelis Biopharma and Gland Pharma.

The companies will produce enough doses for 300 million people a year, RDIF said.

It added that Sputnik V has "production capacity for more than 700 million people secured in 10 countries", without providing further details.

According to RDIF, Russia's vaccine, which is named after the Soviet-era satellite, has been registered in 54 countries.

Moscow registered the vaccine in August before large-scale clinical trials, but leading medical journal The Lancet has since said it is safe and over 90 percent effective.

Some Western countries have been wary of Sputnik over concerns the Kremlin is using it as a soft power tool to advance its interests.