Panacea Biotec to produce Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for global markets

India is yet to grant approval to the Sputnik V vaccine for use in India

India’s Panacea Biotec on Monday announced that it would produce 100 million doses of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine per year to help boost global supply of the shots.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Russian Direct Investment Fund to produce Sputnik V for global markets,” Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, Panacea Biotec, said in a statement.

Besides Panacea Biotec, RDIF has also entered into agreements with Indian pharma firms Hetero, Gland Pharma and Stelis Biopharma to produce millions of Sputnik V vaccines in India.

“To date, Sputnik V has been registered in 59 countries globally with a total population of 1.5 billion people,” a joint statement by Panacea Biotec and RDIF said.

India is yet to grant approval to the Sputnik V vaccine for use.

“Cooperation with Panacea Biotec is an important step to produce the vaccine in India and to supply our international partners around the world,” RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

The efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6 per cent as confirmed by the data published in the leading medical journal, Lancet.

The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, it added.