Zetema, Contract Manufacturing of Russian COVID-19 Vaccine

Russian vaccine 'Sputnik V'
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Biopharmaceutical company Zetema will undertake contract manufacturing of Russia's COVID-19 vaccines.

On the 21st, Zetema announced that it signed a three-party technology transfer agreement for vaccine bulk production with the Russian sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), which supported the development of Russia's COVID-19 vaccines 'Sputnik V' and 'Sputnik Light,' and Gilepha, which is responsible for domestic production of the vaccines.

This contract is the official third technology transfer agreement following subsidiaries Korea Chorus and Isu Abxis, which are part of the consortium formed by Gilepha for domestic production of the Russian vaccines.

Zetema plans to culture and purify the adenovirus delivery vector of the Sputnik vaccines. To facilitate rapid technology adoption, Zetema and Korea Chorus have been conducting working-level consultations since June this year.

Zetema has already introduced one 1,000-liter bioreactor for vaccine bulk (DS) production and plans to install four additional units by the end of this year or early next year.

After trial production, full-scale production is expected to begin around the end of September. Zetema will produce both the two-dose Sputnik V and the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccines.

It is known that Sputnik Light can be produced at a minimum of 4 million doses (single-dose units) per month using one 1,000-liter bioreactor.

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