Karnataka is set to domestic manufacturing units of Covaxin and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines among a shortage of doses.
Though Bharat Biotech's Covaxin manufacturing facility is under construction in Kolar district's Malur town, drug company Shilpa Medicare, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Shilpa Biologicals Pvt. Ltd. (SBPL), has joined into a three-year definitive agreement with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) for production and supply of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine from its integrated biologics R&D-cum-manufacturing center in Dharwad.
As per state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, the Kolar vaccine manufacturing facility would have a production capacity of four-five crore doses per month by August-end.
According to a report of May 17, Sudhakar said he organized a video conference with Bharat Biotech founder Dr Krishna Ella, his daughter Dr Jala Ella and rest of the team. "Dr Ella has assured me that their facility at Malur in Kolar will be able
to produce one crore vaccines by June-end. By July-end it will be by two to three crores, and their target by August-end is four crore to five crore vaccine doses," Sudhakar stated.
The minister supplementary added that Dr Krishna Ella and Bharat Biotech's directors had assured him that they would supply vaccine doses to Karnataka at the earliest. Sudhakar added he had requested them to provide a rollout schedule.
In the meantime, SBPL said in a regulatory filing that its targeted production of the dual vector Sputnik V for the first 12 months is 50 million doses from the beginning of commercial manufacturing.
DRL soft-launched imported COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V on May 14. The vaccine is valued at Rs 948, with five percent GST per dose (retail price of Rs 995.40).
Shilpa Medicare said DRL would facilitate the transfer of technology to SBPL. Under the agreement, SBPL would be in authority for manufacturing, while DRL would be responsible for distribution/marketing of the vaccine doses in its marketing territories.
Shilpa Medicare articulated the companies are also exploring the possibility to manufacture Sputnik Light, a single-dose version of the Sputnik V vaccine in the near upcoming.
Karnataka has so far conducted over 1.13 crore inoculations of the novel coronavirus vaccines. This number comprises both the first and the second dose. Nevertheless, it has suspended the vaccination drive for people between the 18-44 age group due to scarcity of doses.
India is witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 infections and rapid mass inoculation is being seen as an actual way to curb further spread of the pandemic.
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