R-Pharm deal with AstraZeneca to produce Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Russia will begin the production of an Oxford University-developed vaccine against COVID-19 this year, which will be jointly carried out by a local drugmaker R-Pharm and Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), according to the companies.

These plans have been recently confirmed by Alexei Repik, chairman of R-Pharm, who said that, in addition to the domestic market, the new vaccine will be exported to 30-50 countries throughout the world.

According to Mr Repik, so far, the parties have already reached an agreement on the production of the vaccine in Russia at the facilities of R-Pharm, and among its major sales markets will be the Middle East region, as well as Southeast Asia, the European Union and CIS states.