After announcing the world’s first vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus, Russia is all set to export the vaccine to India. As per reports, India’s pharma major Dr Reddy’s Labs has collaborated with Russia’s Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to distribute and conduct clinical trials of the Russia-developed vaccine in India, subject to regulatory approvals.
Russia to supply India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories with 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine against COVID-19 once it receives regulatory approval in India: Reuters
— ANI (@ANI) September 16, 2020
Dr Reddy’s and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is Russia’s sovereign health fund, have agreed to conduct clinical trials over of the vaccine in India. Chief Executive Officer of the RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev said that the agreement between the RDIF and Dr Reddy’s reflected the growing awareness of countries and organisations to have a diversified anti-COVID vaccine portfolio to protect their populations.
If the required regulatory approvals are obtained, RDIF may provide upto 100 million doses of the vaccine to India, Dr Reddy’s said in a statement.
Co-Chairman and MD of Dr Reddy’s, G V Prasad said that Phase I and II clinical trials of the vaccine have shown promising results and the Phase-III trials of the vaccine will be conducted in India. “The Phase I and II clinical trials have shown promising results. We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. The Sputnik-V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against Covid-19 in India”, Prasad said.
Russia had announced last month that it had prepared the vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter was among the first persons who were inoculated.
