MOSCOW (Reuters) – Doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V against COVID-19 produced in Italy by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Adienne Pharma & Biotech will not be available on the market until at least the end of 2021, the TASS news agency reported on Friday. .
Moscow’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund signed an agreement with Adienne earlier this week that will need approval from Italian regulators before production can be launched. The company said it also closed deals with production units in Spain, France and Germany.
The production agreements are the last indication that some companies can carry out their plans without waiting for the European Union regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to grant approval to Sputnik V.
“The company will not produce lots for sale until the end of 2021,” said TASS, citing Antonio Francesco Di Naro, president of Adienne, based in Lugano.
Di Naro said the company had yet to complete the technology exchange process to produce Sputnik V, test its production and transfer data to national regulators before the injection was offered for sale.
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(Written by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Catherine Evans)