Trials of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in India will be backed by the government after a local company which has partnered with Russia for testing signed a cooperation agreement with the authorities.
Dr. Reddy’s pharmaceutical company announced on Thursday that it will receive “advisory support on clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine” from the Indian government’s Department of Biotechnology through its Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The agreement with BIRAC will grant the company, which works hand-in-hand with the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), access to government-funded clinical trial centers and laboratories to conduct immunogenicity assay testing of the vaccine.
Cooperation with the government will “accelerate our efforts in bringing the vaccine to India,” Satish Reddy, chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, said.
“The government is committed to fast track clinical development of COVID vaccine candidates and provide facilitation to accelerate market readiness of a suitable vaccine,” Dr. Renu Swarup, who heads the Department of Biotechnology, said.
Being the world’s second-worst hit country after the US, India is in dire need of a vaccine for the coronavirus. It has so far recorded more than 8 million cases of the virus and over 120,000 fatalities.
Dr. Reddy’s and RDIF received state approval to carry out an adaptive phase 2/3 human clinical trial for the Sputnik V vaccine in India earlier this month.
On August 11, Sputnik V became the first registered Covid-19 vaccine in the world after receiving the papers from Russia’s Health Ministry.
Earlier in September, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that 50 countries have expressed interest in purchasing doses of Sputnik V.
In Russia, the post-registration testing of the Gamaleya Institute’s vaccine is currently in the third phase, with 40,000 volunteers taking part in the research.
Credit: RT News