RDIF expects 50 mn doses a month of Sputnik V vaccine production in India

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Tuesday said it expects over 50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in India by this summer. The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Monday registered the vaccine under the emergency use authorisation procedure, based on results of clinical trials in Russia, as well as positive data of additional Phase III local clinical trials in India conducted in partnership with Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev in a virtual press conference said besides five drug companies that the Russian firm had ties ups with, they are looking for a couple of more firms for the possible production pacts. "We almost think sputnik V is an Indian-Russian vaccine because lots of production of sputnik V will be done in India.

We publicly announced five production partnerships in India with some of the largest Indian pharmaceutical companies," Dmitriev said. "We believe more than 50 million doses a month (to be manufactured) in the summer (in a couple of months). This is our plan.

By summer we expect to manufacture 50 million doses or more of sputnik V a month in India, he said. Replying to a query, he said some of the Indian firms have started production of the vaccine under strict quality checks.

In September 2020, Dr Reddys and RDIF entered into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of the Sputnik V, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the rights for distribution of the first 100 million doses in India. Later it was enhanced to 125 million.