Russian State Sovereign Fund Finances UK-Russia Project With Oxford University To Produce Covid-19 Vaccine
Moscow’s sovereign wealth fund publicly announced details of an agreement for the Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm to produce a coronavirus vaccine developed by British-Swedish AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
We previously examined which countries are assisting with Covid-19 vaccine research in the Silk Road Briefing article Who’s Developing A Covid-19 Vaccine – The Alternative Asian Players.
R-Pharm plans to supply the drug to 30-50 countries, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian company Alexey Repik said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.”We formalized this intention in the form of a signed agreement on production and supply of a vaccine that was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, using the technological capabilities of R-Pharm to implement the project. Moreover, R-Pharm will act as a hub for vaccine supplies to a huge number of countries – to 30, 40, 50 countries, including the countries of the Middle East, including the countries of Southeast Asia, European countries, of course, the CIS, and Russia,” Repik said.
R-Pharm noted that the vaccine is currently undergoing research, which should determine how well it protects against coronavirus, and estimate its safety and immune response in humans.
The company was founded in 2001 by Alexey Repik, and is 10% owned by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. It is also funded by Russia’s Sovereign wealth fund. R-Pharm’s stated mission is to increase the accessibility of the most modern medicines for patients in Russia and all over the world.
R-Pharm specializes in research and development, manufacturing of high-tech medicines, as well as the distribution of laboratory supplies and medical equipment. Various Russian leading medical institutions and organizations are among the clients of the group.
R-Pharm Group owns several state-of-the-art manufacturing sites in Russia and abroad: high-tech packaging site in Kostroma region, a plant for production of finished dosage forms and biotechnological APS in Yaroslavl, pilot manufacturing site in Moscow, a plant for production of solid dosage forms in Illertissen (Germany). A modern research and APS manufacturing site in Rostov and Russian-Azerbaijani pharmaceutical plant in Baku are under construction. In 2018 R-Pharm and Rosatom agreed to create a joint manufacturing plant in Moscow.
R-Pharm has its own research and development facilities, which allows it to conduct various activities in partnership with the leading Russian and foreign academic institutes.
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