As India faces a surge in Covid-19 cases and reports of vaccine shortage, Russian COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ has been recommended for approval for emergency use in the country. The recommendation for approval has been given by an expert panel of India's central drug authority.
The decision comes after the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)'s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) met on Monday (April 12) to take up Sputnik V application for Emergency Use Authorisation in India.
Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, Dr Reddy's Laboratories has sought approval for using of the Sputnik V vaccine which currently is in the Phase III clinical trials in India.
As per the DCGI panel, the vaccine would be imported from Russia for emergency use in the country.
For wide use in the country, the vaccine will still need the approval of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
After DCGI's approval, Sputnik-V will become the third vaccine after Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin to be used in India.
Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 91.6 per cent in the interim analysis of phase III clinical trials, which included data of 19,866 volunteers in Russia.