Baddi firm gets approval to produce Sputnik V

Ambika Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Solan, July 3

The state drug licensing authority today gave approval to Panacea Biotech to manufacture Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V at its Baddi facility. It will be the first Covid vaccine to be manufactured in Himachal.

Deputy Drug Controller-cum-Licensing Authority Manish Kapoor, Baddi, said, “Panacea Biotech was today given the approval to manufacture Sputnik V vaccine at its Malpur-based facility in the Baddi industrial area”.

Interestingly, the firm was jointly inspected by the officials of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and the State’s Drug Control Administration earlier. It had sought permission on form CT-23 to manufacture the vaccine from the state licensing authority.

The first batch of Sputnik V produced by Panacea Biotec here will be shipped to Russia’s Gamaleya Centre for quality control. The company had earlier announced plans to produce test batches of three million vaccines here.

The production of Sputnik V at a time when the fear of the third Covid wave is looming large will help vaccinate more people. The Russian Direct Investment Fund has partnered with several leading Indian pharmaceutical companies, including Panacea Biotech, to manufacture the vaccine in India.

The Drug Controller General of India had granted the emergency use authorisation to Sputnik V on April 12 on the basis of the clinical trials. The vaccine demonstrated an efficacy rate of 91.6 per cent in the interim analysis of the phase-III trial.

The pharmaceutical industry has remained at the forefront of manufacturing key Covid drugs such as Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, tocilizumab, favipiravir, etc. Sputnik V has added another feather to its cap.