India to be involved in Sputnik V trials

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 11

India will get a piece of the action as Russia enters the last mile of producing the world’s first Covid vaccine.

Phase-III clinical trials will be held in different countries, including India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil and Philippines. This will be followed by mass production in other countries in partnership with local financing companies.

“The plan is to ramp up the vaccine production to 20 crore doses by the end of 2020, including 30 crore doses in Russia,” said Dmitriev, whose fund is performing a critical function of bankrolling the research.

India was among the first lot of 20 countries that had expressed interest in obtaining the Sputnik V, he added.

India already has had fruitful partnerships in the past with the US, both in supply chain management and in joint research. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have discussed the need to strengthen global pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing and supply chains, an area where Russia does not have traditional expertise.

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