Cooperation for Sputnik-V vaccine in Russia helps Dr Reddy gain 4 per cent intraday

The leading pharmaceutical company, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories made an announcement on Wednesday regarding its cooperation with a Russian company for the Sputnik-V vaccine. As a result of this development, the stock gained as much as 5 per cent in the last hour of the trading session.

The statement from the company stated that Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories have entered into a cooperation on clinical trials along with the distribution of the Sputnik-V vaccine in India. RDIF would supply 100 million doses of the vaccine to India via Dr Reddy’s. This can be considered as a major growth trigger as the Sputnik-V vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, and is currently undergoing clinical trials for the Coronavirus pandemic. With the world getting in grip of the virus and causing negative impacts on the world economy, the vaccine-related developments will get a strong momentum in the company.

The statement from the company further added that upon receiving necessary approvals from Indian authorities, the deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020. As per the recent data available, as of September 4, a research paper on the results of phase I and phase II clinical trials of the Sputnik-V vaccine has been published in one of the leading international medical journals. According to these reports, the trails have shown no serious or adverse effects but a stable immune response in 100 per cent of the participants. Post-registration clinical trials of the Sputnik-V vaccine, involving 40,000 volunteers, are currently ongoing. More than 55,000 volunteers have applied to take part in the post-registration trials. The first results of these trials are expected to be published in October-November 2020.

The stock of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories closed higher by 4.3 per cent on BSE at Rs 4,640.