Dr Reddy’s to reduce prices of Sputnik booster doses

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Dr Reddy's Laboratories on May 19 said it would be reducing the prices of the Sputnik Light vaccine, which will be used as a booster dose for over 1.2 million beneficiaries who have been administered the Sputnik vaccine.

“The pricing of the Sputnik V booster dose will be competitive and will be in line with the current market. Initially, the Sputnik V was being manufactured outside India, today it is being produced in India,” Deepak Sapra, CEO API & Services at Dr Reddy's said.

Dr. Reddy has the rights to the marketing and distribution of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine in India.

Sapra said the company is also conducting a clinical trial for studying Sputnik Light’s role as a universal booster dose.

"We are amidst a clinical trial for Sputnik Light as a universal booster, which means that anybody who has taken any vaccine; be it Covaxin or Covishield can take Sputnik Lite as a universal booster if we get favourable results from our clinical trial. For this, we expect to go to the regulators towards June and early July,” he added.

Commenting on the COVID inventory of the company, Sapra said some of the COVID products saw movements in the previous quarter. Still, it is much less compared to the past quarters because of the easing of the coronavirus scenario in the country.

“The future of the COVID portfolio will depend on the COVID waves and the severity of the waves. Our objective is to continue to look for opportunities to utilise this inventory in India and overseas,” he added.

When asked if Dr. Reddy’s was re-calibrating the alliance with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Sapra said that the company was in an alliance with the latter.

“We have the alliance with the RDIF... what we have done is that the supply chain for Sputnik is completely configured in India and it is a made in India vaccine so the alliance continues and we will be manufacturing and supply assurances from India,” he added.

Commenting on the progress of the Sputnik M COVID-19 vaccine for children, Sapra said the company was not prioritising the same.

“We are not working on Sputnik M for children but prioritising Sputnik light and the trial for it as a universal booster is a core priority,” Sapra added.