India to Manufacture Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine?
Russian scientists published the results of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of last week’s Sputnik V trials in The Lancet which demonstrated that Sputnik V was safe and induced a satisfactory antibody response within 21 days for all participants. Phase 3 vaccine trials began last week.
In a major development regarding the Coronavirus vaccine, the government said on Tuesday, September 8, that Russia has formally approached India and sought assistance in producing their Coronavirus vaccine for Sputnik V. NITI Aayog member (Health), Dr. VK Paul, as quoted by the news agency ANI, said the Russian government had approached the Indian government and on two counts had asked for assistance.
He said that through the extensive network of Indian pharmaceutical companies, Russia has asked India to consider manufacturing its Sputnik V vaccine. He added that the Russians had also asked for the conduct of the Sputnik V vaccine phase 3 trials in India.
The member of NITI Aayog further stated that India attaches great importance to this offer of partnership by the Russians, who have in the past also maintained a cordial relationship with India, and the movement on these two offers is considered more significant.
This comes on the day Russia released for the public use the first batch of the COVID-19 ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine into the civil circulation. In addition, the Russian health authorities will soon begin delivering the much-anticipated Sputnik V vaccine for the highly contagious Coronavirus caused by SARS-CoV-2 to the region.
According to the Russian Health Ministry statement, “The first batch of the ‘Gam-COVID-Vac’ vaccine [Sputnik V] for the prevention of new Coronavirus infection, developed by the Russian Ministry of Health’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, passed the required quality tests in Roszdravnadzor [medical device regulator] laboratories and was released into civil circulation”.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is involved in making the Sputnik V vaccine, confirmed that clinical trials of the Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine will take place in several countries, including India, this month.
The Sputnik V vaccine jointly developed by RDIF and the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by Russia’s Ministry of Health on August 11 and became the world’s first registered COVID-19 vaccine.
