Italy becomes first EU country to make a deal to produce Rusian vaccine

MILAN (AP) — Russia has signed a deal to produce its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy, the first contract in the European Union, the Italian Russian Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday.

The deal was signed with Adienne Srl, the Italian subsidiary of a Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, and Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Production of a planned 10 million doses this year is set to launch in July.

“The innovative production process will help create new jobs and allow Italy to control the entire production of the compound,” the chamber said in a statement. Financial terms were not released.

Sputnik V has not yet been approved for use in the EU, but the body’s regulator, the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, started a rolling review of the vaccine last week.

Russian authorities are working on 20 similar collaborations in Europe and the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 45 nations worldwide, the chamber said.

The EU has been criticized for its slow vaccine rollout and some EU nations have decided not to wait for the EMA’s approval. Hungary became the first EU country to authorize Sputnik V for use last month while Slovakia announced a deal last week to acquire 2 million Sputnik V doses and received the first shipment of 200,000 doses. ...