Egyptian to locally produce Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine

CAIRO – 21 April 2021: Egypt’s leading pharmaceutical company Minapharm said it would produce over 40 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine per year, as per an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

The agreement to produce the world’s first registered vaccine against the novel virus also includes Minapharm’s Berlin-based subsidiary ProBioGen AG.

Minapharm in a press release said the parties to the agreement plan to immediately start transferring technology required, expecting the rollout of the vaccine in the third quarter of 2021.

Minapharm says production of the 40 million annual doses will take place in its Cairo biotech facility for global distribution.

“Minapharm’s German subsidiary, ProBioGen AG, aims to undertake efforts for process optimization to further increase the production scale taking advantage of its expertise in viral vector technology and manufacturing process development for vaccines and gene therapy,” the press release read.

According to Minapharm, Sputnik V has been registered in 61 countries and proved 97.6% efficacy based on the analysis of data on the infection rate of coronavirus among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of the vaccine.

Egypt’s Health Minister Hala Zayed on Monday met with Russia’s Ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko, where they discussed the possibility for Egypt to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine.

Egypt also plans to manufacture China’s Sinopharm inside the factories of the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA).