The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) recently said it was negotiating the production of Sputnik V, Russia's Covid-19 vaccine, with Korean firms.
Local vaccine developers and contract manufacturing organizations (CMO) denied it, however, saying they do not have the required facilities and capacity to produce Sputnik V.
Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation has developed Sputnik V and officially registered it as the first Covid-19 vaccine in the world on Aug. 11.
There were controversies over its safety and efficacy, but Russia pushed ahead with its production. The Russian government said it planned to use regional bases for global supply and distribution of Sputnik V, and Korea is one of such bases for the East Asian region, according to RDIF.
On Sept. 16, Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of RDIF, said in an interview with Russian news channel Rossiya-24 that the negotiations regarding Sputnik V production in Korea are in the final stage. However, local vaccine developers and CMO companies are denying in unison the report of Russian vaccines' consignment production.
Above all, companies that produce vaccines according to the fertile egg formula cannot manufacture Sputnik V, they said. The production of Sputnik V is based on Adenovirus Vector. AstraZeneca and CanSino Biologics al.so use this technology to produce their vaccines.
"In theory, we can produce it if we rebuild existing facilities or build new ones, but we cannot afford to rebuild facilities for now," an official of GC Pharma said. "Our company has no plans for consignment production."
Celltrion and Samsung Biologics, the two largest CMO companies in Korea, also showed a similar response.
"We are developing our own Covid-19 antibody therapy, and have no room to consign and produce vaccines from other companies or countries," Celltrion said. "There have been reports that we will make a CMO deal. However, this is not true."
A Samsung Biologics official also said, “No discussions are going on. We cannot secure a vaccine consignment production line due to a large number of ongoing CMO projects."
Russia began to vaccinate high-risk groups, such as medical workers and teachers, early this month. The country is conducting a phase 3 clinical trial on some 40,000 citizens in Moscow.