RDIF: Laboratorios Richmond to provide Argentina with over 3 million doses of the second component of the Sputnik V vaccine in August with the first 150,000 doses to become available for vaccination this week

MOSCOW, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund) and Argentina's Laboratorios Richmond SACIF pharmaceutical company today announced the Sputnik V vaccine produced at Company's facilities will become available for vaccination in Argentina starting from this week following successful quality control of test samples at the Gamaleya Center on August 3.

Sucessful start of production of the second component of Sputnik V by Laboratorios Richmond is an important example of technological cooperation between Russia and Argentina to localize the production of one of the best vaccines against coronavirus in the world. Laboratorios Richmond is expected to produce over 3 million doses of the second component of Sputnik V in August. This week the Company will start supplying the Government of Argentina with locally produced Sputnik V vaccine including 150,000 doses of the second component to protect the population.

Argentina was the first country in Latin America both to authorize Sputnik V and to start its production. The vaccine was registered in the country under the emergency use authorization procedure and vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started on 29 December 2020. RDIF and partners facilitated the technology transfer to Laboratorios Richmond for the local production of the vaccine with the first batch manufactured in April 2021.

To date, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 69 countries globally with a total population of over 3.7 bn people. The data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of the population, including in Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, San Marino, UAE and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus.

Sputnik V is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said:

"Thanks to the partnership between RDIF and Laboratorios Richmond people in Argentina will obtain access to locally produced Sputnik V vaccine. It will increase the scale of vaccination reducing time and logistic costs. Localization of production of Sputnik V in a short time frame is a joint success of Russia and Argentina providing for successful implementation of national vaccination programs also by other countries of the region using one of the world's safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus."

Marcelo Figueiras, President of Laboratorios Richmond, said:

"We at Richmond are very happy and proud to partner with the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Gamaleya Center to produce the Sputnik V vaccine in Argentina. We are proud of our scientific team that worked jointly with Gamaleya´s experts to ensure we can produce the vaccines that will help us save Argentine lives. Today is a very important day because we have reached a milestone, which prompts us to continue our hard work to achieve more vaccines for more people. Collaborating within this process helps our people to get access to the Sputnik V vaccine that has shown one of the highest efficacy and safety profiles among other advantages."

Sputnik V has a number of key advantages:

• Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021;
• The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.
• Sputnik V has pioneered the use of heterogeneous boosting (two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination among COVID vaccines). This approach provides for immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
• The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.
• There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling RUB 2.1 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 1 mn people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at rdif.ru

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