Panacea Bio gets DCGI approval to manufacture Sputnik V vaccine in India
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Panacea Biotec the license to manufacture the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India, the company announced on Sunday. It is the first firm that will manufacture the vaccine locally.
Panacea Biotec is one of six companies that entered into partnerships with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund which is marketing the COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V globally.
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“Panacea Biotec… (is in) receipt of manufacturing license from Drugs Controller General (India) for Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 pursuant to its collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund. The license is a necessary condition for using Sputnik V produced by Panacea Biotec in India,” the pharma company said in a statement.
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It is pertinent to mention that the vaccine, according to the company, has 91.6 percent efficacy in preventing serious illness.
The initial test batches produced at Panacea Biotec’s premises at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh were shipped earlier to the Gamaleya Center in Russia for quality control.
The batches successfully passed all the checks for quality parameters. They were checked both at the Gamaleya Center in Russia and at the Central Drug Laboratory, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh in India.
However, the company has not yet responded to further queries on when the COVID-19 vaccine would be available. Meanwhile, Panacea is likely to produce 100 million doses per year.
On April 12, Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorization while the vaccination against Covid-19 with the Russian vaccine started on May 14.
-PTC News
