The Russian Sovereign Fund (RDIF) announced on Monday an agreement with the Indian pharmaceutical group Virchow Biotech to produce 200 million doses of the Russian vaccine. Sputnik V against him coronavirus.

“The technology transfer will be completed in the second quarter of 2021, and will be followed by large-scale commercial production”, said RDIF, which has partly funded the development of the vaccine and is negotiating production deals abroad.

This agreement is in addition to the one already announced on Friday with another Indian pharmaceutical company, Stelis, to produce 200 million doses. Another 100 million doses was signed in November with the Indian firm Hetero.

“Vaccine partnerships are the only way to overcome the pandemic. The world continues its fight against coronavirus, and we see growing interest in Sputnik VKirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Sovereign Fund, said in a statement.

According to the RDIF, the Russian vaccine is now licensed in 54 countries, covering 1.4 billion people. However, Sputnik V is not endorsed in India, where clinical trials are still ongoing.

Moscow wants to diversify production sources for its own vaccine. Its capacities are still limited and its priority is devoted to supplying the Russian population.

The Sputnik V It was initially received with skepticism abroad, but its reliability was validated in February by the scientific journal The Lancet.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is currently examining your application for type approval.

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