Hyd firm to co-produce 100 mn Sputnik doses

BOX

10 states account for 84% fatalities

Of the total deaths, 83.80 pc are concentrated in 10 states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and MP.

Tribune News Service/PTI

New Delhi/Hyderabad, November 27

The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Hyderbad-based pharma group Hetero have agreed to produce over 100 million doses per year of the world’s first registered Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, Hetero said on Friday.

The parties intend to start the production of Sputnik V in the beginning of 2021 through Hetero’s biologics arm Hetero Biopharma, it said in a press release.

The Gamaleya Center in Russia and the RDIF announced on November 24 positive results obtained during the second interim data analysis of the largest double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trials in Russia involving 40,000 volunteers.

Currently, Sputnik Phase III trials are being held in several countries, including India.

Meanwhile, the new Covid cases exceeded daily recoveries for the third day in a row in India. The country saw 43,082 new cases as against 39,379 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, 76.93 per cent are from 10 states and UTs. Maharashtra leads the tally with 6,406 new cases. Delhi has reported 5,475 cases, while Kerala recorded 5,378 in the last 24 hours.