New Delhi: India’s Panacea Biotec has begun the production of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine at its Baddi facility in Himachal Pradesh.
Announcing the development on Monday, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said: “RDIF and Panacea Biotec, one of the leading vaccine and pharmaceutical producers in India, today announced the launch of production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus.”
While the first batch produced at the Baddi plant will be shipped to the Gamaleya Center for quality control, the full-scale production of the vaccine is due to start this summer.
According to an earlier agreement, Panacea will produce 10 crore doses of Sputnik V every year.
“Production of Sputnik V supports efforts of India’s authorities to leave behind the acute phase of coronavirus as soon as possible while the vaccine will also be exported at a later stage to help prevent the spread of the virus in other countries around the world,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF.
The development comes days after the Delhi High Court had vehemently criticized the Centre for refusing to grant permission to Panacea Biotec for the production of the vaccines.
Sputnik V, world’s first registered vaccine against the novel coronavirus, was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and has been marketed globally by the RDIF.
The vaccine got the emergency use authorization in India last April and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories began the soft-launch of the vaccine last week. According to sources, the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's will begin domestic manufacturing of the vaccine in July.