Shares of India’s Panacea Biotec Ltd climbed as much as 9 per cent in early trade on Monday, a day after the biotech company said it had received a manufacturing licence for the Sputnik V vaccine.
India has shifted its focus to mass immunisations as experts warn of a looming third wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the country slowly reopens and a new variant, locally called the Delta Plus, emerges.
By July 2, 6 per cent of all eligible adults in India had been inoculated with the two mandatory doses, data from the government’s Co-Win portal showed.
Official coronavirus death toll topped 400,000 last week, though experts say the actual number could have reached one million or even higher.
India is the world’s second-worst coronavirus-hit country after the United States.
Panacea Biotec said on Sunday the Indian drugs regulator granted the licence following the company’s collaboration with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund which markets the shot internationally.