SII to produce Russia's Sputnik V Covid vaccine from September

The RDIF says the vaccine is approved for use in 67 countries

India’s biggest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India will manufacture 300 million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine, whose developers inked an agreement with the company on Tuesday.

As per the pact between the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which sponsored the development of Sputnik-V, and Serum Institute, the Pune-based vaccine major is expected to roll out its first batch of the shots by September, 2021.

In accordance with the technology transfer process, SII has already received cell and vector samples from the Gamaleya Center. The manufacturing process has begun following an approval by the Drug Controller General of India.

With the RDIF signing such agreements with half a dozen local pharmaceutical firms, India has emerged as the leading production hub for the Russian vaccine, which has been registered in 67 countries. Agreements have been signed with Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen for the production of the Russian vaccine.

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In addition, Dr Reddy’s Laboratory remains Sputnik's main distributor in India besides carrying out the clinical trial and obtaining the regulatory approval for the Russian entity.

Notwithstanding so many partners in India, the expected supply of Sputnik-V for the government’s Covid-19 vaccination programme has now been lowered to 10 crore from the previous figure of 15.6 crore.

Besides manufacturing Covishield – the mainstay of India’s Covid-19 vaccination programme – the SII has also tied up with the US firm Novavax to roll out its vaccine under the brand name Covavax.

In a statement, DRL on Tuesday said Sputnik-V was soft-launched in over 50 cities in India since May 14, but didn’t say when it would be commercially rolled out. “Neither the ongoing soft commercial launch, nor work towards its ramp up in India have been put on hold,” the DRL said in a statement.