China-Russia Sputnik V Vaccine Production Cooperation... "Production Expected in China from November"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] China is expected to begin production of the Sputnik V vaccine, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine developed by a Russian state-owned research institute, as early as November through cooperative manufacturing efforts. While production volume is anticipated to increase significantly, concerns over safety issues previously raised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and various countries are expected to persist.

According to China’s state-run Global Times and Russia’s TASS news agency, on the 1st, the Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), announced that it is negotiating with Chinese partners to cooperate on the production of Sputnik V, Russia’s first COVID-19 vaccine. Following these negotiations, both China and Russia plan to commence production of Sputnik V in China as early as November. RDIF is the sovereign wealth fund that financed the development costs of Sputnik V by the Russian Gamaleya Institute.

Kiril Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF, stated, "China has the capacity to mass-produce the vaccine and supply it not only domestically but also to other Asian countries." He added, "The Chinese partner has completed technology transfer and will start producing Sputnik V in November." He further noted, "Russia has received pre-orders for over one billion doses of the vaccine from 20 countries and regions," and "We are prepared to produce vaccines for more than 500 million people annually in five countries."

According to Global Times, Chinese experts predict that "the most likely potential Chinese manufacturing partner for the Russian vaccine is CanSino, which succeeded in developing an Ebola virus vaccine," while also noting that "other manufacturers such as Fosun Pharma cannot be ruled out as collaborators in the Sputnik V project."

However, concerns over safety issues are expected to continue. Previously, the Russian government approved Sputnik V, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Ministry of Health, immediately after completing Phase 2 clinical trials in mid-month, sparking safety controversies. Currently, the vaccine is undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials involving 40,000 volunteers within Russia.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.