Hetero, RDIF to produce over 100 million doses of Sputnik V in India

"We are delighted to announce the agreement between RDIF and Hetero that will pave the way to production of the safe and highly effective Sputnik V vaccine on Indian soil," Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

The vaccine''s interim clinical trial results show 95 percent efficacy on the 42nd day after the first dose, he added.

"Thanks to our cooperation with Hetero, we will be able to significantly increase production capacity and provide people of India with an efficient solution in this challenging period of the pandemic," Dmitriev said.

The Gamaleya Center and RDIF on Tuesday had announced that the efficacy of its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is over 95 percent and the cost of one dose of the shot for international markets will be less than USD 10 (around Rs 740).

"We are pleased to collaborate with RDIF as a manufacturing partner for the most anticipated Sputnik V vaccine for... COVID-19. While we look forward to the clinical trial results in India, we believe that manufacturing the product locally is crucial to enable swift access to patients," Hetero Labs International Marketing Director B Murali Krishna Reddy said.

Meanwhile, on Monday, pharma major AstraZeneca had said an interim analysis of clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and Brazil showed that it was 70 percent effective on average.