The pharma firm through its subsidiary Hetero Biopharma intends to start the production of Sputnik V in the beginning of 2021.

Russia Direct Investment Fund on November 27 announced their agreement with Hyderabad-based drug maker Hetero Biologics, to produce over 100 million doses of Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India.

The Healthworld.com from The Economic Times says the pharma firm through its subsidiary Hetero Biopharma intends to start the production of Sputnik V in the beginning of 2021.

According to the second interim data analysis by Gamaleya Center and RDIF, the Sputnik V vaccine demonstrated 91.4% efficacy rate in the evaluation carried out 28 days after administering the first dose.  The analysis was announced on November 24.

“We are delighted to announce the agreement between RDIF and Hetero that will pave the way to the production of the safe and highly effective Sputnik V vaccine on Indian soil.  Thanks to our cooperation with Hetero, we will be able to significantly increase production capacity and provide people of India with an efficient solution in this challenging period of the pandemic,” said Kirill Dmitriyev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The uniqueness of the Russian vaccine reportedly lies in the use of two different vectors based on the human adenovirus, which the makers claim, allows for a stronger and longer-term immune response.

Currently, Phase III clinical trials are approved and are ongoing in Belarus, the UAE, Venezuela and other countries, as well as Phase II-III in India.

“We are pleased to collaborate with RDIF as a manufacturing partner for the most anticipated Sputnik V vaccine for the treatment of Covid-19. While we look forward to the clinical trial results in India, we believe that manufacturing the product locally is crucial to enable swift access to patients,” B. Murali Krishna Reddy, Director – International Marketing, Hetero Labs Limited said.