An agreement has been reached between the Russian Sovereign Fund and the Indian pharmaceutical group Stelis for the production of 200 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine.
The Russian vaccine is authorized by some fifty countries in the world but not yet in India where clinical trials are underway.
The Russian Sovereign Fund (RDIF) announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with an Indian pharmaceutical group to produce at least 200 million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine against the coronavirus there.
The RDIF, which partially funded the development of the vaccine, said it had teamed up with Stelis, a division of the pharmaceutical group Strides, to produce from the third quarter of 2021 "a minimum of 200 million doses of Sputnik-V, enough to vaccinate 100 million people ".
A previous agreement between RDIF and the Indian group Hetero was concluded in November, for the production of more than 100 million doses per year of Sputnik-V.
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"Expanding access to the vaccine globally"
The Russian vaccine, authorized by some fifty countries in the world, is not authorized in India where clinical trials are underway, but Moscow is seeking to diversify the sources of production for its vaccine, its own capacities being still relatively limited in the face of international demand.
"The large volumes of vaccine produced in conjunction with Stelis will help expand access to the vaccine globally," said fund boss Kirill Dmitriev as quoted in the statement.
Sputnik V was initially greeted with skepticism abroad but its reliability was validated in February by the scientific journal "The Lancet".
Its request for approval is currently being examined by the European Medicines Agency.