Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd will be completing phase two trials of Covid vaccine candidate Sputnik V in December.
When contacted a spokesperson of Dr Reddy’s told BusinessLine : “Phase-II clinical trials will start in a few weeks and expected to complete by December-end.’’
The vaccine, it is learnt, had already arrived in India for the trials from Russia.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, has tied up with Dr Reddy’s to conduct the clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India.
The Drug Control General of India (DCGI) had in October given approval to conduct an adaptive Phase 2/3 human clinical trial for the Russian vaccine in India.
As per the agreement, RDIF will supply 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Hyderabad-based company.
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The clinical trials by Dr Reddy’s assumes significance in view of an announcement made by Russian authorities a couple of days ago that the Sputnik V vaccine candidate has demonstrated “high efficacy” in interim data, as it reduced by 92 per cent the possibility that those inoculated would be clinically diagnosed with symptomatic Covid-19.
According to Dr Reddy’s, the phase-III trials of Sputnik are likely to be completed sometime by March–May, 2020.