By Hyderabad-based drugmaker Hetero Drugs, through its biologics arm, will be producing “over” 100 million doses of Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V starting 2021, said the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Friday.
The firm, through subsidiary Hetero Biopharma, is expected to produce these doses over the course of the year, according to RDIF. The vaccines produced here may also be used to fulfill demand from other countries.
Sputnik V is also expected to be tested in mid- to late-stage clinical trials in India by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, another Hyderabad-headquartered drugmaker.
According to the latest interim analysis of data collected from participants undergoing Sputnik V trials in Russia, the vaccine seems to have demonstrated an efficacy of 91.4%.
“Requests for more than 1.2 billion doses of Sputnik V vaccine came from more than 50 countries. The vaccine supplies for the global market will be produced by RDIF’s international partners in India, Brazil, China, South Korea and other countries,” stated RDIF in a release.
“While we look forward to the clinical trial results in India, we believe that manufacturing the product locally is crucial to enable swift access to patients,” said B Murali Krishna Reddy, Director – International Marketing, Hetero Labs Limited.
“Thanks to our cooperation with Hetero, we will be able to significantly increase production capacity and provide people of India with an efficient solution in this challenging period of the pandemic,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian sovereign wealth fund.
