The company declined to name the vaccine developer, but said it is accelerating the vaccine block infrastructure with ability to cater to multiple vaccine types including viral vector, protein subunit, RNA and DNA.
Strides Pharma said its biotech associate Stelis Biotech is in ongoing discussions to partner with other global vaccine developers for manufacturing services.
The company declined to name the vaccine developer, but said it is accelerating the vaccine block infrastructure with ability to cater to multiple vaccine types including viral vector, protein subunit, RNA and DNA.
Strides has a capacity to produce 500 million doses vaccines.
Sputnik V Vaccine
Stelis Biopharma in March announced that it has partnered with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF to produce and supply a minimum of 200 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine.
Stelis said it has 24,000 litres of viral vector capacity. Stelis will do both the drug substance and fill and finish.
Strides said it has commenced validation batches of Sputnik V vaccine in late May from its newly commissioned facility in Bengaluru.
The company said it expects the facility to be on track in July in spite of COVID challenges and expect the commercial rollout of the product by October.
As per the contract the company will have to supply these doses in next one year to RDIF. RDIF will take a call on distribution and pricing of the vaccine.
“It ‘s more of fixed price time contract,” said Arun Kumar, Founder & Non – Executive Chairman of Strides.
Kumar said RDIF has a significant back backorder, as the vaccine was approved in 65 countries.
“We believe that the investments will get a fast recovery ,” Kumar added.
Viswanath Pilla is a business journalist with 14 years of reporting experience. Based in Mumbai, Pilla covers pharma, healthcare and infrastructure sectors for Moneycontrol.
