The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Egyptian pharmaceutical company Minapharm have agreed to produce more than 40 million doses of a Russian vaccine against the coronavirus Sputnik V per year, intending to launch it in the third quarter, the fund said in a statement.
"The RDIF, Egypt's Minapharm and its subsidiary, ProBioGen (Germany), announced an agreement to produce more than 40 million doses of the Russian vaccine against coronavirus Sputnik V per year. The parties intend to start technology transfer in the near future and launch vaccine production in the third quarter of 2021," the RDIF reports.
In the first stage, the partners intend to supply more than 40 million doses per year produced at Minapharm's biotech facilities in Cairo. ProBioGen, a subsidiary with expertise in vector technology, vaccine production and gene therapy, will be involved in optimizing processes to scale up vaccine production going forward.
"The partnership with Minapharm was the first agreement for the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in the Middle East and North Africa region. The RDIF created partnerships with leading pharmaceutical manufacturers to release the drug in a number of states, with the number of countries that have registered the vaccine reaching 61. Sputnik V is a highly effective vaccine that is trusted by regulators around the world and contributes greatly to the fight against coronavirus," said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the RDIF.
Sputnik V has been registered in 61 countries with a combined population of more than 3 billion people. The effectiveness of the vaccine was 97.6 percent based on an analysis of data on coronavirus incidence among Russians vaccinated with both components of the drug between December 5, 2020, and March 31, 2021.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: sputnikvaccine.com
Based on materials from RIA Novosti