Panacea Biotec has received a licence from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to manufacture Sputnik V, a development that saw the shares of the vaccine and pharmaceutical maker gain 5% on Monday.
The licence is a necessary condition for using Sputnik V produced by the company in India, said Panacea Biotec, which is among the clutch of firms with whom the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has collaborated in the country for manufacture of the vaccine against COVID-19.
Batches of the vaccine produced at its facilities in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, were shipped earlier to the Gamaleya Center in Russia for quality control. The batches “successfully passed all the checks for quality parameters both at the Gamaleya Center and at the Central Drug Laboratory, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh,” the company said on Sunday. Shares of Panacea closed at ₹397.35 apiece, a gain of 5.29%, before touching ₹411 intra day.
Managing Director Rajesh Jain thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India for timely handholding and expediting clearances. The third vaccine approved for use in the country, Sputnik was rolled out by RDIF’s marketing partner Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in May as part of a limited pilot launch, while commercial launch of the vaccine is awaited.
