The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited, a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in India, have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in India.
According to a Reuters report, the late-stage clinical trials of Russia's coronavirus vaccine candidate will commence in India in the next few weeks.
"Indian trials of the Sputnik-V vaccine candidate, being developed by Russia's sovereign wealth fund, will enroll 1,000-2,000 participants and be conducted at multiple government and private hospitals across the country," Deepak Sapra, CEO for API and pharmaceutical services at Dr Reddy's, told Reuters.
"We want to get to the first step - which is the commencement of the clinical trials by getting the necessary approvals from the Indian regulators - within the next few weeks," Sapra said to the news agency.
RDIF and Dr Reddy's will soon identify potential manufacturers for the COVID-19 vaccine in India. The Sputnik V vaccine doses delivered to India will be a combination of Indian- and Russian-made doses, Sapra said.
The RDIF has stated that vaccine deliveries to India could begin by end of 2020. However, Sapra has indicated that it might take longer. "I think it's going to be several months before we accomplish all the steps in the process," he added.
RDIF had announced its agreement to supply 100 million doses of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Dr Reddy's Laboratories last week. "Dr Reddy's has had a very well established and respected presence in Russia for over 25 years and is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India," it had stated.
“India is amongst most severely impacted countries from the novel coronavirus and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against COVID-19. RDIF partners will receive an effective and safe drug to fight the coronavirus.”Kirill Dmitriev, CEO, RDIF
The Russian Health Ministry released the first batch of Sputnik V vaccine into civil circulation last week. The vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and RDIF.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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