India will receive a total of 250 million dosages of Russia’s Sputnik V over the next 8-10 months and its production here is expected to begin from July, said a top executive of Dr Reddy’s, the local partner for the vaccine against Covid-19.
The vaccine by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute is priced at Rs 948. With 5% GST, the retail price of Sputnik V will be Rs 995.40 a dose. “The price which has been announced is Rs 948 plus GST for the imported dosages. Once we have the India-manufactured product available, the pricing for the vaccine will be different. We do not have a figure currently. We are working out the best possible ways to minimise the number so that it is accessible to as many Indians as possible," Deepak Sapra, CEO, API & Services at Dr. Reddy’s, told CNN-News18 in an exclusive interview.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on Friday soft-launched COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India with imported doses, as Sapra took the first shot in Hyderabad.
On being asked if the price of the vaccine will be different for Centre and states and on the question of price for private hospitals, Sapra said, “That is a discussion we are going to have. We are going to take guidance of the various stakeholders involved, including the government and the Niti Aayog. And based on that we will be determining what is the best possible way to maximise access."
On the question of Sputnik V’s efficacy against the COVID-19 variant found in India, he said, “Sputnik V has been tested on some of the variants. The variant on which we have received the data from our Russian partner is the UK variant. Testing is underway on the South African variant."
“Now we have two large categories of variants — the double variant which has been found in India and the triple mutant. In addition to the efforts being taken by our Russian partner, we are working very closely with the department of biotechnology and also the National Institute of Virology to test Sputnik V on the Indian variants as well. All of this testing is at different stages. We expect that by the end of May or early June, we will have credible data from Sputnik on these variants in addition to the data we already have," he said.
The new Lancet report has raised questions over the interim results of the Phase III trials of Sputnik V. Addressing to observations and concerns raised, Sapra said, “After the Lancet journal published those observations, they were studied and our partner the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology in Russia has come up with the response to those."
Assuring that the vaccine is safe and effective, he said, “We have clinical data on subjects in India which was very consistent with what was reported by our Russian partners in Lancet. We also have real world data on several million subjects all over the world, which has also demonstrated a very high level of consistency with what was originally reported. So, we feel comfortable that it is a safe, secure, immunogenic and efficacious vaccine."
The first consignment of imported doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) landed in India on May 1, and received regulatory clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory.
RDIF has tie-ups with six Indian drug firms to manufacture the vaccine. The two vaccines — Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute’s Covishield — currently used in the vaccination programme across the country are priced at Rs 1,200 and Rs 600 per dose respectively to private hospitals.
Reddy’s expects stocks for commercial sales from RDIF and the company is in discussions with a couple of State governments and the Centre for supply of the vaccine, he added. “Local manufacturing is expected to give us the vaccine for commercial usage from July timeframe.. after that it will steadily ramp up over the next few months," he said.
On launching the product, Sapra said the company would initially be looking tentatively at 35 cities where cold chain facilities are available for launching the product and span out based on the infrastructure. Sputnik V needs to be stored at -18 degrees centigrade, Sapra said.
On another vaccine Sputnik Light from RDIF, Sapra said the Russian organisation has submitted to Dr Reddy’s the interim results of the single dose vaccine’s trials which are being studied. As soon as the vaccine completes the 42-day trial, Dr Reddy’s would approach the Indian regulators for necessary approvals.
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