MUMBAI: Panacea Biotec and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced the start of production of the Sputnik V vaccine, with commercial manufacture kick-starting in summer. Under a tie-up, RDIF and Panacea have agreed to produce 100 million doses per year of the vaccine. The first batch produced at Panacea Biotec’s facilities at Baddi will be shipped to Russia’s Gamaleya Center for “quality control”, a company statement said. The facilities comply with GMP (good manufacturing practices) and are prequalified by WHO, it adds. Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorization procedure on April 12, and vaccination with the Russian vaccine started on May 14. The initial roll-out has been done with the doses imported from Russia by RDIF’s partner, Dr Reddy’s, with the jab priced around Rs 995 per dose. Rajesh Jain, managing director of Panacea Biotec, said “This marks a significant step as we initiate production of Sputnik V.” According to Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF: “Production of Sputnik V supports efforts of India’s authorities to leave behind the acute phase of coronavirus as soon as possible while the vaccine will also be exported at a later stage to help prevent the spread of the virus in other countries around the world.” Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both doses of Sputnik V from December 2020 to March 2021, the company claims.