Kolkata hospital to conduct trial of Sputnik V

The trial of the Sputnik V vaccine will be led by Dr Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, Consultant Clinical Pharmacologist and Director, Clinical Research in association with CliniMed LifeSciences, Kolkata and would be sponsored by Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.

New Delhi:The phase 3 trial of Russian coronavirus vaccine candidate Sputnik V will be conducted on around 100 healthy volunteers in Kolkata's Peerless Hospital following the approval by the hospital Ethics Committee.

The trial will be led by Dr Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, Consultant Clinical Pharmacologist and Director, Clinical Research in association with CliniMed LifeSciences, Kolkata and would be sponsored by Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.

This is the only hospital as on date to have got the clearance to have the trials from this month.

Russia became the first country to register the world's first COVID-19 vaccine on August 11, Sputnik V, named after Russia's first satellite.

"Sputnik V, the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, is over 95 per cent effective," said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the efficacy of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has been confirmed to be 91.4 per cent, based on data analysis of the final control point of clinical trials, announced the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

Western experts have expressed scepticism at the speed at which the purported vaccine was developed and Russia has not provided any data to back up its claims for the shot.

Over the past months, Sputnik V has been offered to medical workers and teachers, even as it was still in the middle of advanced trials.

The free vaccine is offered to Russians aged 18 to 60 who don't suffer from chronic illnesses and are not pregnant or breastfeeding.

The two-shot Sputnik V was developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute.

(With ANI, AP inputs.)