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.
-
BREAKING: RDIF and Panacea Biotec launch the production of Sputnik V in India. #India's @PanaceaBiotec now to produce 100 million doses of #SputnikV per year
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) May 24, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
👇https://t.co/zgd0WYNxkV pic.twitter.com/ZNeU4Aqi46
">BREAKING: RDIF and Panacea Biotec launch the production of Sputnik V in India. #India's @PanaceaBiotec now to produce 100 million doses of #SputnikV per year
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) May 24, 2021
👇https://t.co/zgd0WYNxkV pic.twitter.com/ZNeU4Aqi46BREAKING: RDIF and Panacea Biotec launch the production of Sputnik V in India. #India's @PanaceaBiotec now to produce 100 million doses of #SputnikV per year
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) May 24, 2021
👇https://t.co/zgd0WYNxkV pic.twitter.com/ZNeU4Aqi46
“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.
Read More: Apollo begins administering Sputnik V, priced at Rs 1,250 per dose on CoWIN
Sputnik V has been registered in 66 countries globally with a total population of over 320 crore people, says a statement by the RDIF.
Meanwhile, a study carried out by Argentina’s Institute of Virology of the National University of Cordoba and the Government of Cordoba has confirmed neutralization effectiveness of the Russian two-dose Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine against the Manaus (Brazilian) variant and overall strong immune response after vaccination with Sputnik V.
The study finds that Sputnik V neutralizes the Brazilian variant in those who received one dose as well as subjects inoculated with two doses of the vaccine.
The study also demonstrated that 99.65 percent of subjects induced IgG antibodies to COVID-19 on the 42nd day after receiving the 2nd dose and 85.5 percent of subjects induced IgG antibodies to COVID-19 on the 14th day after receiving the 1st dose.
Shares of Panacea Biotec jumped 4 per cent after the announcement.
The stock gained 3.94 per cent to close at Rs 386.80 on the BSE. During the day, it jumped 4.99per cent to Rs 390.75.
On the NSE, it jumped 3.42 per cent to close at Rs 384.50.
