Russia seals deal to make UK-developed coronavirus vaccine despite hacking charges

Name: Coronavirus: Inside a Chinese lab joining global race to find a vaccine
Uploaded: 2020-07-17T14:31:50.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: Coronavirus: Inside a Chinese lab joining global race to find a vaccine

Moscow unveiled a pact with AstraZeneca for it to produce a coronavirus vaccine being developed by the firm and Oxford University

Russia’s wealth fund head says this shows the country had no need to steal vaccine data

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Reuters

Published: 10:31pm, 17 Jul 2020Updated: 4:48am, 18 Jul 2020

Russia on Friday unveiled a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the pharmaceuticals giant and Oxford University, a move its wealth fund head said showed Moscow had no need to steal vaccine data.

Britain, Canada and the United States said on Thursday that hackers backed by the Russian state were trying to steal Covid-19 vaccine and treatment research from academic and pharmaceutical institutions around the world, allegations the Kremlin denied.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said on Friday that Moscow did not need to steal secrets as it already had a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture the potential British vaccine in Russia.

“AstraZeneca already has an agreement … with R-Pharm [a Russian portfolio company] on the complete localisation and production of the Oxford vaccine in Russia,” said Dmitriev.

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Coronavirus: Inside a Chinese lab joining global race to find a vaccine

Alexey Repik, R-Pharm’s board chairman, said on Friday his company had signed the deal.