MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Health Secretariat of the Brazilian State of Bahia have signed a cooperation agreement on supply of up to 50 mln doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, the Fund said in a statement on Friday.
"Deliveries are expected to start in November 2020 subject to approval by Brazil’s regulators with the consideration of results of post-registration trials," the statement said. The agreement will also enable the parties to distribute the vaccine across Brazil in the future.
"Sputnik V is based on a proven human adenoviral vector platform while other coronavirus vaccines use novel platforms, namely monkey adenoviral vectors or mRNA. The recent developments in the global pharmaceutical industry with suspended trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine show the importance of a diversified approach to vaccine supplies. The signings of agreements to supply Sputnik V internationally demonstrate many countries recognize that human adenovirus-based vaccines are an absolute must-have for their national drug portfolio, as this platform has proven safe and effective over decades," RDIF Chief Executive Officer Kirill Dmitriev was quoted as saying.
On September 9, Russian Direct Investment Fund and the pharmaceutical company Landsteiner Scientific announced an agreement for the supply of 32 mln doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to Mexico, which would help vaccinate 25% of the population. Deliveries are expected to start in November 2020 subject to approval by Mexico’s regulators.
On August 11, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by the Russian Health Ministry, becoming the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on a human adenoviral vector platform.