Korea's GL Rapha to produce Russian COVID-19 vaccine

A nurse prepares a dose of Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine for COVID-19 for inoculation at a clinic in Tver, Russia, in this October file photo. / Reuters-Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

Bio-tech company GL Rapha will produce 150 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the COVID-19 in Korea every year, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said Friday.

The statement came after the RDIF announced in August that Russia had begun procedures to supply Korea with the world's “first” vaccine against the coronavirus in a number of months.

According to the Russian sovereign wealth fund, local production of the COVID-19 vaccine will begin next month for an international roll out in January. The vaccine produced in Korea will be distributed globally.

“The first interim data analysis of the Sputnik V vaccine Phase III clinical trials in the Russian Federation demonstrated 92 percent efficacy,” RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

“Now it is important to strengthen international cooperation and partnerships to make sure that enough of the Sputnik V vaccine is produced to meet global demand, and we are grateful to our partners at GL Rapha for their cooperation and joint efforts.”

RDIF said it has received requests for more than 1.2 billion doses of Sputnik V from more than 50 countries, adding vaccine supplies for the global market will be produced by international partners in South Korea, India, Brazil, China and other countries to enable an annual production of 500 million doses outside Russia.

It is now considering additional requests from a number of countries and companies to further increase its foreign production capacity.

During a previous interview with The Korea Times in August, the RDIF CEO said South Korea can be a great partner to produce Sputnik V.

“We are in talks with two major Korean pharmaceutical companies, which have production capabilities, to produce the vaccine in South Korea and potentially supply it not only in Korea but also to export it to other countries in Asia,” he said at that time.

But the vaccine still faces concerns in Europe and North America, because Moscow granted regulatory approval for it in August, less than two months after human testing began and without a Phase III trial.

In response, Dmitriev said: “Sputnik V is based on a safe and effective platform of human adenoviral vectors. As the pandemic is yet far from over, more countries are recognizing the human adenoviral vector platform and plan to include these vaccines in their national portfolios.”