New Delhi-based Panacea Biotec has announced receipt of manufacturing license from Drugs Controller General (India) for Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 pursuant to its collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund (Russia’s sovereign wealth fund).

The license is a necessary condition for using Sputnik V produced by Panacea Biotec in India.

The batches produced at Panacea Biotec’s facilities at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh were earlier shipped to the Gamaleya Center in Russia for quality control. The said batches have successfully passed all the checks for quality parameters both at the Gamaleya Center in Russia and at the Central Drug Laboratory, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh in India.

There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V. The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2-8 degrees means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.

The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.