Coronavirus: Russia eyes German firm as co-partner in Sputnik V vaccine production
- Call to Germany’s IDT Biologika comes a day after The Lancet journal published trial results showing Sputnik V to be 91.6 per cent effective against Covid-19
- Sputnik V has been approved in more than 15 countries, including several ex-Soviet republics, but also Argentina, Tunisia and Pakistan
Russia has reached out to German biotechnology company IDT Biologika to explore jointly producing the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the German health ministry said Wednesday.
It comes a day after The Lancet journal published trial results showing the Sputnik vaccine to be 91.6 per cent effective against Covid-19, defying international scepticism about the Russian-made jab.
A German health ministry spokeswoman said that Russia’s state-run Gamaleya research institute, which developed Sputnik V, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the project, “are interested in a co-partner for a possible production and have as such contacted IDT Biologika”.
“The contents or details of confidential discussions are not known,” she added. IDT, based in Dessau in eastern Germany, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Sputnik V has been approved in more than 15 countries, including several ex-Soviet republics but also Argentina, Tunisia and Pakistan.
