Sputnik Light vax to be launched in India by December, says RDIF

Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine will be launched in India by December, 2021, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO, Russian Direct Investment Fund said on Wednesday, according to news agency ANI.

India’s drug regulator had in July refused to grant emergency-use authorisation to the Russian-made vaccine while ruling out the need for the conduct of the phase-3 trial. However, in September, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had given permission to Dr Reddy’s Laboratory Limited to conduct phase-3 bridging trials.

Later on, the government permitted the export of Russia’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light domestically produced, according to earlier reports. Indian drug firm Hetero Biopharma Limited had been allowed to export 40 lakh doses of Sputnik Light to Russia, news agency PTI had reported earlier.

Sputnik Light is the same as component-1 of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V which is being used in India’s anti-COVID inoculation programme after getting emergency use authorisation from India’s Drug Regulator in April.

Over the past months, the RDIF has been working closely with Indian pharmaceutical companies to ramp up the production of Sputnik vaccine in India that could be used in the local and global markets.

At the moment, RDIF together with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, is working with authorities concerned on the registration of the Sputnik Light in India.

The single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrated 79.4 percent efficacy according to analysed data taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia’s mass vaccination program between December 5, 2020 and April 15, 2021. An efficacy level of almost 80 percent is higher than that of many two-dose vaccines.

Sputnik Light has proven effective against all new strains of coronavirus, as demonstrated by the Gamaleya Center during laboratory tests, a press release from RDIF had said on May 6.

Meanwhile, RDIF earlier today announced the real-world data of San Marino’s Ministry of Health on Sputnik V vaccine demonstrating it is 80% effective against COVID-19 from 6th to 8th months after administering the second dose. Business Today