Panacea Biotec supplies second component of Sputnik V vaccine in India

Panacea Biotec has supplied the first shipment of the second component of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by it for sale in India.

This is the first batch of the second component produced and supplied by the company in India, the drug firm and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a joint statement.

Sputnik V has pioneered the use of heterogeneous boosting (two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination among COVID vaccines).

This approach provides for immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots, the statement said.

The second component of Sputnik V has been manufactured at the company's vaccine manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh, Panacea Biotec said in a late night regulatory filing on Monday.

The batch will be distributed in India through Dr Reddy's Laboratories, a partner of RDIF and Panacea Biotec, it added.

"Panacea Biotec is pleased to have successfully produced and dispatched the first batch of Component II (Ad5) of Sputnik V vaccine. More batches are currently under production at our manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh," Panacea Biotec MD Rajesh Jain said.

The Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and RDIF.

Shares of Panacea Biotec were trading at Rs 312.00 per scrip on BSE, up 5.91 per cent from its previous close.