Covid-19 vaccine: Virchow Biotech to make 200 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V in India

MOSCOW: Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund said on Monday it had reached an agreement with India's Virchow Biotech to produce up to 200 million doses a year of the Sputnik V vaccine in India.

RDIF said full-scale commercial production would start after completing the transfer of technology in the second quarter.

The announcement follows similar deals with Indian pharmaceutical firms Gland Pharma, Stelis Biopharma and Hetero.

"Virchow's proven capabilities in large-scale drug substance manufacturing should help meet the global demand for this vaccine," Dr. Tummuru Murali, Managing Director of Virchow Biotech, said in a statement issued by RDIF.

India, the world's largest vaccine maker, has become one of the biggest producers of the Sputnik V shot outside Russia. Other countries producing it include Brazil, China and South Korea.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, which has run small clinical studies of Sputnik V in India, sought emergency-use approval for the vaccine last month, but India's drug regulator asked for more data from the Sputnik V developers.