Russia Completes Deals with India, Mexico, and Brazil for Sputnik V

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has announced three deals with India, Brazil, and Mexico, during the first half of September 2020, for the supply of doses of Sputnik V, a potential COVID-19 vaccine that is currently undergoing early clinical trials.

On Sept. 9, 2020, RDIF released information on the first supply deal, which was struct with Landsteiner Scientific pharmaceutical company and involves the supply of 32 million doses of Sputnik V to Mexico. According to the release, deliveries are expected to commence in November 2020, subject to approval of the vaccine by Mexico’s regulators

A deal between RDIF and the State of Bahia (Brazil) was then announced on Sept. 11, 2020. Under the terms of this deal, RDIF has agreed to supply up to 50 million doses of the Russian vaccine to Brazil, starting in November 2020, if the Brazilian regulators issue an approval.

The most recent deal was announced in a press release on Sept. 16, 2020, and was struck with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in India. Through this deal, Dr. Reddy’s will cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of 100 million doses of Sputnik V in India, once regulatory approval in the country has been granted.

These deals follow on from the publication of Phase I/II data from open, non-randomized studies that were published in The Lancet (1). The studies were performed in Russian hospitals and included 76 healthy adults, with reported strong immune responses seen in all participants. However, multiple scientists have co-signed an open letter to the study authors and The Lancet over concerns about the reliability of the data presented in the study (2). To date, the study authors have not issued a formal response to the open letter.

Reference

1. D.Y. Logunov, et al., The Lancet, Published Online Sept. 4, 2020.
2. E. Bucci, “Note of Concern,” cattiviscienziati.com, Open Letter, Sept. 7, 2020.

Source: RDIF​