Indian biotech firm the Panacea Biotec Ltd has agreed to produce a 100 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine annually, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the shot internationally, said on Monday, 5th April, 2021.
Production of Sputnik V at Panacea Biotec sites will help facilitate global supply of Sputnik V to international partners of RDIF. The Delhi-based company is the first experienced vaccine manufacturer in India with whom RDIF has a manufacturing agreement.
Till date, Sputnik V has been registered in 59 countries globally with total population of over 1.5 billion people. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6% as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals.
“Panacea Biotec will produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V in its internationally accredited facilities· complying to strict GMP standards and prequalified by World Health Organization (WHO) ,” said Rajesh Jain, Managing Director of Panacea Biotec.
The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
It has set production targets of 500 million doses for 2021 and one billion doses in 2022 for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. RDIF did not say when production would begin.