By Sangmi Cha
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Huons Global Co Ltd said on Friday it will lead a consortium to produce 100 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per month as Moscow ramps up production for supplies abroad.
The announcement comes after South Korean biotech firm GL Rapha signed a deal with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund late last year to make more than 150 million doses of Sputnik V per year.
Huons said the consortium will begin producing sample batches in August and respond flexibly to supply demands from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
The consortium includes three other local companies – Prestige BioPharma, Humedix and Boran Pharma – which will build a new production facility, Huons said in a statement.
Shares in Huons Global jumped 29.8% to their daily limit on Friday morning trade, versus a flat wider market.
India’s ambassador to Moscow on Friday said deliveries of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to India were expected to begin before the end of April, after Indian regulators approved the shot for use on Monday.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is conducting a rolling review of the Russian vaccine as many European countries seek to ramp up inoculation programmes that have been hampered by delivery delays.
(Reporting by Sangmi Cha, Additional reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
