India set to be biggest producer of Sputnik V outside Russia as fourth firm signs pact

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<strong>Bengaluru-based drugmaker Strides Pharma Science announced on Friday that its unit Stelis Biopharma has partnered with Russia’s sovereign fund to make at least 200 million doses of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, making it the fourth Indian company that will be making the shots.</strong></p>
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India is now set to become one of the biggest producers of the Sputnik V vaccine outside Russia. Other countries that are producing the vaccine include South Korea, Brazil and China.</p>
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Stelis and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) plan to start supplies of the vaccine doses in the third quarter of this year, Strides Pharma said in a statement.</p>
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The Stelis agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) follows similar deals struck by Indian pharmaceutical firms Gland Pharma and Hetero to make millions of doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which has proven to be 91.6% effective against Covid-19. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories was the first Indian drugmaker to sign an agreement with RDIF.</p>
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Sputnik V, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, has been approved in 22 countries, with the RDIF signing supply deals with over 13 countries.</p>
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Amid an acute shortage of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, India’s vaccine makers are expected to start producing Russia’s Sputnik V and the US Novavax vaccines soon to augment supplies as the pandemic continues to surge.</p>
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India's Gland Pharma Ltd had said on Tuesday it has inked an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce and supply up to 252 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. It was the third Indian company after Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd and Hetero that will be producing the shots.  </p>
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Under the terms of the agreement, Gland Pharma will first undertake technology transfer of the drug substance to its manufacturing facilities. It will then start manufacturing of drug substance and drug product filling into vials under aseptic conditions. "Gland Pharma’s expertise in manufacturing of sterile injectable at significant scale will support in establishing a stable supply of Covid-19," the company said in a regulatory filing.</p>
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Indian drugmaker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd has already been working with RDIF to hold small domestic clinical studies of Sputnik V. The company sought emergency use approval last month, but was asked for further immunogenicity data by India's drug regulator.</p>
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India's Hetero has also entered into a deal to manufacture over 100 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.</p>
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Over 3.5 million people in Russia have already received both doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. Leading medical journal The Lancet last month published results showing the jab to be safe and over 90 per cent effective.</p>
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<strong>SII to produce Novavax from April</strong></p>
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Meanwhile, after having successfully manufactured the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday that the company expects to launch Covovax, the Covid vaccine developed by US pharma giant Novavax, by August.</p>
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The Pune-based company will begin stockpiling this vaccine next month, which it will test on the Indian population in a bridging study.</p>
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“The good news is that we’re going to start stockpiling the product starting in the month of April, so that…we have a huge stockpile which we can then distribute the minute we’re licenced,” he said during the Bloomberg Equity Summit.</p>
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He said it has become difficult for companies to reach their goal of supplying 2 billion doses by the end of the year to COVAX — the global Covid-19 vaccine facility under GAVI and WHO which aims to supply doses to the poor countries.</p>
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WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment for supporting vaccine equity and sharing Covid vaccines with over 70 countries across the world, hoping that other nations will follow his example.</p>