Russian COVID vax arrives in India for human clinical trial

The Russian 'Sputnik V' vaccine for COVID-19 has arrived in India following the nod to Pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories to conduct an adaptive phase 2/3 human clinical trial for the vaccine in the country.

In a video that surfaced on media, containers with logos of Dr Reddy's and Sputnik V being unloaded from a small truck was seen.

On Wednesday, Russia's National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that the Sputnik V vaccine demonstrated high efficacy -- 92 percent.

On September 4, The Lancet, one of world's leading medical journals, published a research paper on the results of Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of the vaccine that showed no serious adverse events and effective immune response of those vaccinated.

Requests for more than 1.2 billion doses of Sputnik V vaccine came from over 50 countries. The vaccine supplies for the global market will be produced by RDIF's international partners in India, Brazil, China, South Korea and other countries.

Earlier this October, Dr Reddy's and Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct an adaptive phase 2/3 human clinical trial for the Sputnik V vaccine in India.

"The government is committed to fast-track clinical development of COVID vaccine candidates and provide facilitation to accelerate market readiness of a suitable vaccine," said Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT and Chairperson, BIRAC.

On August 11, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the world's first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vector platform.