Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors.

The first batch produced at Panacea Biotec's facilities at Baddi will be shipped to the Gamaleya Center for quality control. Full-scale production of the vaccine is due to start this summer, the company's facilities comply with GMP standards and are pre-qualified by WHO.

Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorization procedure on 12 April 2021 and vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started on 14 May 2021.

As announced in April, RDIF and Panacea have agreed to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V.

To date Sputnik V has been registered in 66 countries globally with total population of over 3.2 billion people. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from 5 December 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

Dr. Rajesh Jain, managing director, for Panacea Biotec, said: “This marks a significant step as we initiate production of Sputnik V. Together with RDIF, we hope to help bring a sense of normalcy back to people across the country and around the world.”

Panacea Biotec is an innovation-led biotechnology group that focuses on discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines.

The company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 40.05 crore in Q3 FY21 as compared to a net loss of Rs 21.32 crore in Q3 FY20. Net sales during the quarter declined 15.49% YoY to Rs 141.76 crore.