Coronavirus Vaccine: Russia Turns To India To Get Sputnik V To Market Quicker

Russia has sought India's help in conducting phase-3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine and for the manufacture of the same, an Indian government official said.

India has already received the Russian request through appropriate government channels and is now considering it, V.K. Paul, a member of the Indian government's NITI Aayog think tank, told NDTV. He called it an "offer from a friend." India and Russia have shared deep political and military ties for decades. Earlier reports had said phase-3 trials of the vaccine will be held in Saudi Arabia, UAE, the Philippines, India, and Brazil, and the preliminary results will be published in the October-November period. Russia had also said it had shared "comprehensive data" on the vaccine's safety with Indian authorities.

The Russian vaccine, named Sputnik V, has seen strong immune responses in phase-1 and phase-2 trials, the details of which were published in the prestigious journal Lancet. India has a robust clinical trial ecosystem and it's also a major drug manufacturer, with capacity second only to China's. The Russian request assumes significance because getting a vaccine to pass clinical trials and manufacturing it in bulk is key to containing the spread of the pandemic.

Paul, who is also the head of India's expert group on vaccine administration for COVID-19, told NDTV, that along with the requests to allow phase-3 clinical trials and the manufacture of Sputnik V by Indian pharmaceuticals, Moscow has also sought information on any regulatory clearances that would be necessary.

Paul said that three of four Indian companies have already responded to Russia's request, and once the government is able to finalize the company and the regulatory clearances are done, Sputnik V phase-3 trials will commence with Indian volunteers.

Phase-3 vaccine trials involve testing the vaccine in thousands of human participants. India's 1.35 billion population and the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country, which have already crossed 4.3 million, make it is one of the best places in the world to hold the phase-3 trials of Sputnik V.

India's pharma industry has seen huge growth over the past five years and supplies more than 50% of the global demand for a host of vaccines.

Russia is not the first country to see India's potential in helping rush a COVID vaccine to the market. There are already ongoing trials of other vaccines in the country. AstraZeneca, the trials of whose vaccine developed by Oxford University scientists were put on hold Tuesday, was slated to begin its phase-3 human trials in India across 17 states with 1,600 participants.

India also has its own indigenous vaccines that have already entered trials. One is the Bharat Biotech vaccine, which is set to begin phase-2, and another is Zydus Cadilla's vaccine, which is already in phase-2.