New Delhi: The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Sunday (July 4, 2021) granted a licence to Panacea Biotec for manufacturing the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in India. The development comes after the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine cleared all quality-control tests at the Gamaleya Center, Russia. Panacea Biotec, in a release on Sunday, announced that it has received a licence from the DCGI for manufacturing the Sputnik V vaccine in its Himachal Pradesh facility.
“Panacea Biotec… (is in) receipt of manufacturing licence from Drugs Controller General (India) for Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 pursuant to its collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund. The licence is a necessary condition for using Sputnik V produced by Panacea Biotec in India,” the pharma company said in a statement.
The Managing Director of the company, Rajesh Jain said, “Panacea Biotec is delighted to announce the obtaining of the manufacturing licence to produce Sputnik V vaccine in India. On this occasion, we thank the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government of India for timely hand-holding and expediting clearances to enable ‘Make in India’ vaccines."
The pharma company tied up with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, has been part of India’s fight against COVID-19 since 14 May.
Sputnik V has been registered in 54 countries globally with a total population of over 1.4 billion people. The efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6 percent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.
