The Indian Drugs Controller General has granted Panacea Biotec permission to manufacture the Russian-made Covid vaccine Sputnik V in India, the company announced on Sunday, making it the first company to do so.
Panacea Biotec is one of six companies that have partnered with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), to market the vaccine globally.
“Panacea Biotec… has received a manufacturing licence from India’s Drugs Controller General for the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, as part of its collaboration with the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The licence is a requirement for using Sputnik V.
The two-dose vaccine prevents serious illness 91.6 percent of the time.
The first test batches were shipped to the Gamaleya Center in Russia for quality control after being produced at Panacea Biotec’s Baddi facility in Himachal Pradesh.
“The said batches have successfully passed all quality parameters checks at both the Gamaleya Center in Russia and the Central Drug Laboratory in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh in India,” according to the company statement.
Despite the fact that Panacea has yet to respond to additional questions about when the vaccine will be available, sources familiar with the situation said that, under the terms of its agreement with RDIF, the company is expected to produce 100 million doses per year. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which has partnered with RDIF to market the first 250 million doses of the Russian vaccine, is expected to sell Panacea’s doses as well. On April 12, Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorisation procedure, and on May 14, vaccination against Covid-19 with the Russian vaccine began.
The vaccine has been given out in several Indian cities as part of the soft launch, including Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Baddi, Chennai, Miryalaguda, and Kolhapur. Sputnik V has been registered in 67 countries with a total population of over 3.5 billion people around the world.
