The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) and Argentina’s Laboratorios Richmond SACIF pharmaceutical company today announced the first batch of over 1 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine produced in the country has been delivered to the Ministry of Health.
In total, Laboratorios Richmond delivered 995,125 doses of the first component and 152,500 doses of the second component of the Sputnik V vaccine produced at Company’s facilities. This is the first delivery of the second component of Sputnik V out of 3 million doses to be produced and supplied by Laboratorios Richmond in August.
The vaccine supplied will become part of the Strategic Vaccination Plan of the Ministry of Health. Locally produced Sputnik V was supervised and verified by the National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices of Argentina (ANMAT) and complies with all quality requirements.
Argentina was the first country in Latin America both to authorize Sputnik V and to start its production. The vaccine was registered in the country under the emergency use authorization procedure and vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started on 29 December 2020. RDIF and partners facilitated the technology transfer to Laboratorios Richmond for the local production of the vaccine.
To date, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 69 countries globally with a total population of over 3.7 bn people. The data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of the population, including in Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, San Marino, UAE and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus. In particular, Sputnik V demonstrates higher efficacy against the Delta variant of coronavirus than many other vaccines. The vaccine is 83.1% effective and shows 6x reduction of infection risk. Sputnik V is also 94.4% effective against hospitalisations with 18x reduction in hospitalisation risk.
In addition to technology transfer for production of Sputnik V in Argentina, RDIF is also a partner of studies on combination of the first component of Sputnik V (Sputnik Light vaccine based on human adenovirus serotype 26) with other vaccines approved in the country.
The heterogeneous boosting approach (“vaccine cocktail” using human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and human adenovirus serotype 5 as the second component) was at the core of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus. With this approach proving successful in creating a longer and more durable immunity against the coronavirus, RDIF took the lead in November 2020 in initiating partnerships with other vaccine producers to conduct joint studies of a combination of the first component of Sputnik V with foreign vaccines.
Initial safety results of the randomized, single-blind study for the evaluation of the immune response and safety of heterogeneous regimens combining Sputnik Light and vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Moderna in the Buenos Aires province confirm a high safety profile of combinations with no serious adverse events related to vaccination.
Currently RDIF, Ministry of Health of Argentina, Ministry of Science of Argentina and CONICET are conducting a wider study for the evaluation of the immune response and safety of heterogeneous regimens combining Sputnik Light and vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Moderna in the city and province of Buenos Aires, as well as San Luis, Cordoba and La Rioja provinces.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said:
The second component of Sputnik V produced by Laboratorios Richmond in Argentina is delivered just as announced in the beginning of August. Cooperation between RDIF and Laboratorios Richmond support the national vaccination program in Argentina through supplying one of the best COVID vaccines in the world. More batches of the locally produced second component will follow in coming weeks. Russia and Argentina have established a comprehensive partnership in the fight against coronavirus including local production and supplies of Sputnik V, as well as conducting studies on combination of Sputnik Light with other vaccines. This demonstrates a perfect example of joining forces in a number of key areas to protect people of Argentina and help the country return to normal life soon.
