First batch of 1.5 lakh doses of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine arrive in Hyderabad from Russia

Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the custodian of the Sputnik V vaccine in India, has announced the arrival of 1.5 lakh doses of Russian made Covid-19 vaccine in Hyderabad on Saturday.

This is the first consignment as part of the 250 million doses that DRL would import from Russia for use in India. Subsequent consignments would arrive in the next few weeks.

The rollout of the consignment will be subject to the necessary clearances, which will be processed over the next few days, said Deepak Sapra, CEO – API and Services, DRL.

This initial quantity will be used across different channels as a pilot to line up our supply chain for the larger vaccination program rollout,” Sapra said.

The two dose vaccine, found to be displaying 91.6 percent efficacy against Covid-19 infection as per an article in The Lancet, was approved for emergency use in India by the Drugs Controller General of India last month, amid the massive surge in the second wave cases and the shortage of Covishied and Covaxin vaccines.

The Hyderabad based pharma major is in an agreement with Russian Direct Investment Fund to supply 250 million imported doses in India. As per the deal in September 2020, DRL also undertook the Phase-2 and 3 trials of Sputnik-V in India, on 1,600 volunteers to verify its safety and immunogenicity and the data was submitted to DCGI.

DRL will also market, distribute the vaccine, to be manufactured within India in a few months. Hetero, Virchow, Panacea, Gland, Stellis, Shilpa are the six production sites.

DRL top executives had earlier said that they are “still in the midst of negotiating the price and required volumes in the country with the government authorities and other stakeholders.”

Sputnik-V's storage requirement is -18 to -22 degrees temperature, while Covaxin is stable at 2 to 8°C.