Dr Reddys initiates process for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V

The company announced today that it has initiated the process with Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation (EUA) of the well-studied human adenoviral vector-based platform vaccine candidate, Sputnik V.  

As a part of the review process, the company would present its safety profile of the phase II study and the interim data of phase III, which is expected to get completed by February 21, 2021 (Sunday).  

In September 2020, the company had partnered with Russian Direct Investment Firm (RDIF) to conduct the trials of Sputnik V in India. The vaccine is very promising as it showed an efficacy rate of 91.8 per cent. The trial was carried out on 19,886 volunteers in Russia, who received the first as well as the second doses of vaccine. Among these, 2,144 volunteers belonged to the above 60 age group.   

Speaking on this matter, G V Prasad, Co-Chairman & MD of the company said that the initiation of the EUA process will be a critical step for them in ensuring speedy access to Sputnik V vaccine in India.  

Reacting to the news, the shares of the company were up by 1.25 per cent and at 3.10 pm, it was trading at a price of Rs 4,674 per share.

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