RDIF to produce over 40m Sputnik V doses in Egypt

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the country's sovereign wealth fund, said it has reached an agreement with Egypt's Minapharm, a regional leader in recombinant DNA technology, and its Berlin-based subsidiary, ProBioGen to produce over 40 million doses per year of Sputnik V, the world's first registered vaccine against Covid-19.

 

The parties intend to commence technology transfer immediately, said the statement from RDIF, adding the rollout of the vaccine is expected in the third quarter.

 

RDIF and Minapharm will initially supply over 40 million doses per year. Production will take place in Minapharm's biotech facility in Cairo for global distribution.

 

Minapharm's German subsidiary, ProBioGen, aims to undertake efforts for process optimization to further increase the production scale, taking advantage of its expertise in viral vector technology and manufacturing process development for vaccines and gene therapy, said the statement.

 

To date, Sputnik V has been registered in 61 countries globally covering a total population of over three billion people.