Duopharma concludes supply deal for 6.4m doses of Sputnik V vaccine

Duopharma Biotech said the supply of the 6.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine is subject to the approval by the Drug Control Authority of Malaysia, as well as other terms and conditions of supply.

KUALA LUMPUR: Duopharma Biotech Bhd has concluded the supply agreements with the Malaysian Government and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for the supply of 6.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.

In a statement on Tuesday, it said the supply of the vaccine is subject to the approval of the vaccine by the Drug Control Authority of Malaysia, as well as other terms and conditions of supply.

Sputnik V which was developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, has since been successfully registered in 68 countries across North and South America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa.

It said following its unit, Duopharma (M) Sdn Bhd’s (DMSB) recent signing with the Malaysian Government, represented by the Health Ministry, concluded execution of separate definitive supply agreements with the government and RDIF.

This follows the Jan 26 announcement of the signing by DMSB of separate term sheets with the government and RDIF.

Duopharma Biotech also said three of the countries that have registered Sputnik V - Hungary, Slovakia and Argentina - are members of the European Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme.

Based on peer reviewed results of the second interim analysis Phase III published by one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals, The Lancet, Sputnik V’s efficacy has been confirmed at 91.6%.

Furthermore, it is one of only three vaccines in the world with an efficacy rating of over 90%, and no serious adverse events related to the vaccine were recorded.

According to RDIF, 20 million people have so far received the vaccine globally with emergency use authorisation (EUA) registered in 64 countries.

In addition to providing full protection against severe cases of Covid-19, Sputnik V is the world’s first registered vaccine based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector-based platform. The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vector-based vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.

Duopharma Biotech group managing director, Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar confirmed the company's state of readiness and commented:

"The Covid-19 pandemic has presented all Malaysians with extraordinary challenges, which we can only overcome through immediate collaboration on many fronts: Duopharma Biotech is fully committed and proud to be part of our nation's inoculation programme," Leonard Ariff said.