Sputnik V to ramp up production in India from September, announces RDIF

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Saturday informed that the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in India is expected to come fully on stream in September. According to the Fund, the Russia-made COVID-19 vaccine, which was earlier handed a green flag by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), will be a large part of India’s vaccination process by the year-end. The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Institute, which comes under Russia's ministry of health, along with assistance from RDIF.

Sputnik V COVID vaccine to be mass-produced by September

Now, RDIF has said that the Sputnik V vaccine will go into effective production by September. "Production in India is expected to come fully on stream in September. RDIF expects India to become a major production hub of Sputnik V," a statement from RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund, that markets the vaccine globally, said. The statement released by the Fund also mentioned various Indian pharmaceutical firms which have tied up with it to manufacture the shot in India.

The Indian firms listed includes Serum Institute of India (SII), Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen Laboratories, with SII being the biggest producer. The September timeline by the Fund comes after the Pune-based SII announced earlier this month that it will begin producing Sputnik V in September. SII, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, is set to produce more than 300 million doses annually.

Sputnik V production in India delayed?

The Fund, in its statement also dismissed rumours of a delay in the manufacturing of second component batches. Explaining that there will be no delay in production, the Fund said, "Reports about Sputnik V second component production delays in India based on anonymous sources are incorrect. A number of RDIF partners in India have already produced the second component batches, which are undergoing verification at the Gamaleya Center in Russia. Transfer of technology to partners in India is also in process and there is an active exchange between Russian and Indian vaccine production specialists."

"RDIF plans to accelerate deliveries of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light to India already in August," it further added. Earlier, Dr Reddy's, who will market the vaccine’s first 250 million doses of the vaccine, in a statement cited the spike of COVID-19 cases in Russia for causing a delay in the arrival of Sputnik V vaccines. It had also said that the COVID situation in the vaccine’s home country would ease by August end. Earlier, Sputnik V had become the third vaccine available in India after it was approved by the DCGI in April.

(with ANI inputs)

IMAGE: PTI