India’s pharma major Morepen Laboratories has begun manufacturing test batches of the Russian-made anti coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in India as part of efforts to enhance its production capacity in the country.
Morepen and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund that is marketing Sputnik V globally, announced the production of the test batch of the vaccine in an exclusive facility in the state of Himachal Pradesh.
“The first batch will be shipped to the Gamaleya Center for quality control. RDIF and Morepen Laboratories signed a cooperation agreement in June 2021 and are actively implementing the technology transfer,” the company said in a statement here.
Sputnik V was the third vaccine to be granted an emergency use authorization in India on April 12, 2021 after indigenously developed Covaxin and Covishield. US based pharma company
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is the fourth vaccine that has been granted restricted emergency use permission in India.