Wockhardt partners with RDIF to produce Sputnik V, Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccines

Pharmaceutical company Wockhardt has partnered Russia's sovereign wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce and supply Sputnik V and Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccines.
 
The agreement was reached under the aegis of Enso Healthcare (part of Enso Group), RDIF's coordination partner for sourcing Sputnik V vaccines in India, Wockhardt said in a release.
 
Sputnik V is based on human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination. Sputnik Light is the same as component-1 of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
 
The single-dose Sputnik Light demonstrated 79.4 per cent efficacy according to analysed data taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia's mass vaccination programme, the release said.
 
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RDIF claims that Sputnik Light demonstrates 70 per cent efficacy against infection with Delta variant during the first three months after vaccination.
 
While Sputnik V got the drug regulator's nod for use in India in April and is being used as part of the nationwide vaccination programme against COVID-19, Sputnik Light is yet to receive the approval.
 
RDIF has partnered with various Indian pharmaceutical companies to ramp up the production of Sputnik vaccine in India that could be used in the local and global markets.
 
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had in September given permission to Dr Reddy's Laboratory Limited to conduct phase-3 bridging trials of Sputnik Light in India. The DCGI's permission was based on the recommendations by the Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), which held its meeting on August 5.

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