Covid 19 Vaccine: Wockhardt partners with RDIF to produce, supply Sputnik vaccine

Drug maker Wockhardt on Friday said it has inked a pact with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce and supply COVID-19 vaccines -- Sputnik V and Sputnik Light.

The agreement has been inked under the aegis of Enso Healthcare (part of Enso Group), RDIF's coordination partner for sourcing Sputnik V vaccines in India.

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"We are delighted to partner with RDIF to make a substantial contribution towards providing global supply of the Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines which is one of the most efficacious approved vaccines commercially available," Wockhardt Group Founder Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said in a statement.

The arrangement upholds the company's ongoing commitment to fight against such a pandemic of global human importance, he added.

It is our privilege to partner with RDIF and Wockhardt to facilitate large scale manufacturing of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines," Enso Healthcare Chairman Vinay Maloo noted.

In a regulatory filing, Wockhardt noted that subject to requisite approvals and other conditions, the company would manufacture and supply up to 620 million doses of the Sputnik V and the Sputnik Light vaccines to Enso.

The term of the agreement is up to June 2023, it added.

Till date, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 69 countries globally with a total population of over 3.7 billion people.

The data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of the population, including Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, San Marino, UAE and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus.

In particular, Sputnik V demonstrates 83.1 per cent efficacy against the Delta variant of coronavirus - higher than many other vaccines.

The vaccine is based on a well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

Sputnik Light is the first component of Sputnik V and is based on human adenovirus serotype 26.

Wockhardt shares were trading 4.92 per cent up at Rs 513.35 apiece on BSE.