Italy-Russia Chamber of Commerce on vaccine deal

Russia has signed a deal to produce 10 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy this year, the Italian-Russian chamber of commerce announced on Tuesday.

The deal was signed by Adienne Srl, the Italian subsidiary of a Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, with the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

"I believe that this is a historic agreement because it sees Italy as the first in the European context to enter into such an important agreement," Vincenzo Trani, president of Italy-Russia chamber of commerce said.

Vincenzo Trani told the Associated Press that only three companies with the necessary infrastructure, know-how and technology requirements have had access to dialogue with the Russian sovereign wealth fund, although he says it is possible that other Italian companies may soon also produce the Russian vaccine.

Adienne arrived earlier than other companies, according to Trani, because of its structure, which allowed for a fast decision-making process.

"You know the size of medium-sized companies is adequate in some cases to take decisions quickly and I think this has been Adienne's advantage over other operators in the sector," Trani said

According to the Italian-Russian chamber of commerce, Russian authorities are working on 20 similar collaborations across Europe and Sputnik V has been registered in 45 nations worldwide.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the vaccine and markets it abroad has said the production of Sputnik V will span several countries, including India, South Korea, Brazil, China, Turkey, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan and possibly Iran.

Kazakhstan manufactured 90,000 doses of the vaccine last month but there are few indications any large amounts of the vaccine have been produced outside of Russia so far.