Sputnik V is one of the three vaccines approved by DCGI for use in India (File)
A company in Malta has expressed interest to supply up to 60 million doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V to Haryana directly, the state government said on Saturday. Pharma Regulatory Services Ltd, whose headquarters is in the European nation, has given an "expression of Interest" but did not bid for a contract yet, the state government said in a statement.
The foreign company offered to sell the vaccine at Rs 1,120 per dose.
"As per the offer made by the firm, the per dose cost of the vaccine will be nearly Rs 1,120. The firm has further given a timeline of 30 days to supply the first batch of 5 lakh doses, followed by 1 million doses every 20 days till supply is completed against a letter of credit issued in their name," the state government said in the statement.
The Haryana Medical Services Corporation Ltd (HMSCL) launched a global tender on May 26 inviting pharma firms to supply vaccines directly. The tender closed on Friday after no bid was received. The Maltese firm also did not meet the deadline in sending its expression of interest.
However, the state government is going through the expression of interest "carefully", even though the offer came after the tender ended, to check whether it meets the conditions mentioned in the tender, Haryana Additional Chief Secretary of Health Rajeev Arora said in the statement. Mr Arora said the objective is to ensure the state has a smooth supply of vaccines.
"Although no bid was received in the tender but an international pharma company with its headquarters in Malta namely Pharma Regulatory Services Limited has given an expression of Interest to HMSCL to provide up to 60 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine manufactured by Gamaleya Institute and Russian Direct Investment," the Haryana government said in the statement.
Sputnik V is one of the three vaccines approved by the drugs regulator in India.
The first dose of Sputnik V was administered in Hyderabad on May 14 as part of a soft launch by Dr Reddy's Laboratories. The Russian jab has now been registered for use in more than 65 countries but has yet to be approved by the EU or US health authorities.
Russia registered with its drugs regulator Sputnik - named after the Soviet era satellite - in August last year ahead of large-scale clinical trials. Trial results published in the medical journal The Lancet said that with two doses, it is more than 90 per cent effective in symptomatic cases.