The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and Hyderabad-based Hetero, have agreed to produce in India over 100 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine per year.

The parties intend to start production in the beginning of 2021.

It will be produced by Hetero Biopharma. “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,” said Krill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund in a release on Friday.

The vaccine’s interim clinical trial results show 95 per cent 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,” he said.

B Murali Krishna Reddy, Director – International Marketing, Hetero Labs Ltd, commented: “We are pleased to collaborate with RDIF as a manufacturing partner for the most anticipated Sputnik V vaccine for the treatment of 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,” he added.

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