India to produce over 100 mln doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in early 2021 - RDIF
MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - More than 100 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will be manufactured in India at the beginning of next year, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement published on the Russian vaccine's Twitter account.
"RDIF and Hetero, one of India's leading pharmaceutical producers (through Hetero Biopharma subsidiary), announce their agreement to produce in India more than 100 million doses a year of Sputnik V, the world's first registered coronavirus vaccine. The parties plan to launch the production of the vaccine in early 2021," RDIF said in its statement on Friday.
RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that "thanks to our partnership with Hetero, the capacity for the vaccine's output will be significantly increased, which will make it possible to provide the population of India with an effective vaccine during the pandemic."
"Sputnik V should become an important component of the national vaccine portfolio of each country that is committed to protecting its population from the coronavirus," the statement quoted Dmitriev as saying.
Hetero Labs Limited international marketing head Murali Krishna Reddy said in this statement that the company looks forward to receiving the results of the vaccine's clinical trials in India and believes that localizing the production of the vaccine will help effectively supply the vaccine to patients.