Russia plans to launch production of COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil

Russia is interested in launching production of its vaccine against COVID-19 in Brazil at the facilities of some of local drugmakers, according to Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Fund of Direct Investments (RFDI), one of Russia’s leading public investment funds and which participated in the project, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

These plans have been recently confirmed by some Brazil media reports, according to which, Russia is currently in talks with some medical laboratories in Brazil to conduct clinical trials of its new vaccine and localization of its production in the local market.

Russia became the first country to approve a vaccine against COVID-19 earlier this month, that has been named Sputnik V, which was developed by the Gamaleya Institute in collaboration with the RFDI, but has caused controversy because the regulatory clearance does not include Phase III trial data.