Dr Reddy’s to use CMO for vaccine

Hyderabad: Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which is conducting Phase II and III clinical trials for Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India and will also be distributing the vaccine in the country, is roping in contract manufacturing players to churn out millions of doses of the Russian vaccine in the country.

Dr Reddy’s has already tied up with a contract manufacturing operator (CMO) for Sputnik V and is in parleys with other CMOs, sources said.

RDIF has already entered into an agreement with Hyderabad-based pharma player Hetero Biopharma to manufacture 100 million doses of Sputnik but the vaccine doses to be manufactured through Dr Reddy’s will be over and above that, it is learnt.

When contacted a Dr Reddy’s spokesperson confirmed that they are taking the CMO route to produce Sputnik V in India but refused to divulge any details about the number of partnerships expected or the quantum of doses these tie-ups will produce.

Earlier this week, Russian envoy to India, Nikolay Kudashev, had said in New Delhi that Sputnik V vaccine will be manufactured in India by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, while RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev was recently quoted by a Russian media outlet as saying that RDIF has agreements with four large manufacturers in India and will produce 300 million doses of Sputnik V in the country next year.

As per the pact RDIF inked with Dr Reddy’s in September this year, the Hyderabad-based company was to distribute around 100 million doses of Sputnik in India but later a top Dr Reddy’s Labs official had said that the distribution figure could well be much higher than that.

Sputnik V, which has been developed by Russian sovereign wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, became the world’s first registered vaccine against Covid-19 based on the human adenoviral vector platform on August 11, 2020.