Russia’s RDIF gets Indian approval for Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has announced that the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in India by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

India is now the 60th country to have approved the Sputnik V vaccine for giving protection against the novel coronavirus, said the Russian sovereign wealth fund.

Sputnik V is one of the three coronavirus vaccines to have been registered by Indian regulatory authorities so far after Covishield and Covaxin.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund said that India is the most populated country to have registered the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. The total population of 60 countries where Sputnik V has approval is three billion, which covers nearly 40% of the global population.

The Russian Covid-19 vaccine has been registered under the emergency use authorization procedure in India based on the findings of clinical trials held in Russia and also positive data of additional phase 3 local clinical trials in India which were carried out in partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

Russian Direct Investment Fund gets Indian approval for Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. Photo courtesy of The Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund stated that India is the top production hub for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. The Russian sovereign wealth fund has agreements in place with major Indian pharma companies such as Gland Pharma, Panacea Biotec, Hetero Biopharma, Virchow Biotech, and Stelis Biopharma for producing over 850 million doses per year.

Kirill Dmitriev – CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, commenting on the Indian approval of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, said: “We appreciate the decision of India’s regulatory bodies to grant authorization for Sputnik V. Approval of the vaccine is a major milestone as Russia and India have been developing an extensive cooperation on clinical trials of Sputnik V in India and its local production.

“The Russian vaccine has efficacy of 91.6% and provides full protection against severe cases of COVID-19 as demonstrated by the data published in one of the leading medical journals The Lancet.”

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Sputnik V’s storage temperature is +2+8 C, which allows it to be stored in a conventional fridge without having to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure. The price of the Sputnik V vaccine is under $10 per shot, said the Russian Direct Investment Fund.