The Russian Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine
is to be made in Italy, the first European Union country to do
so, the Italo-Russian Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday.
"An agreement has been signed by the Russian government fund and
the ADIENNE Pharma&Biotech company for the production of the
Sputnik V vaccine in Italy," it said.
It said the managing director of the Russian Direct Investment
Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, had confirmed an accord had been
reached with ADIENNE Pharma&Biotech "sealing the first European
contract for the local production of the vaccine".
Sputnik production in Italy will start in July, it said.
The chamber of commerce said Sputnik's "innovative production
process" would help create new jobs and enable Italy to control
the whole process of production.
This will enable the production of some 10 million doses in
Italy by the end of the year, it said.
The accord had been reached by talks between Italian and Russian
firms helped by the Italian embassy in Russia, the chamber said.
Chamber Chairman Vincenzo Trani said "Italian firms are
strategic, they have unique capacity and competencies on the
European scene and are able to face the market with flexibility
and speed".
He said the accord was "historic".
Trani said it showed "the healthy state of relations between our
two countries and underscores how Italian companies know how to
see beyond political polemics".
Sputnik V is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya
Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
A recent published in The Lancet indicated 91.6% efficacy
without unusual side effects.
Emergency mass-distribution of the vaccine began in December
2020 in multiple countries including Russia, Argentina, Belarus,
Hungary, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.
As of March 2021, forty-five countries have granted Sputnik V
emergency use authorization, while over a billion doses of the
vaccine were ordered for immediate distribution globally.
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