The President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández, together with the head of Laboratorios Richmond, Marcelo Figueiras, announced that the Gamaleya Institute of Russia has already approved the first batch of Sputnik V vaccines produced in Argentina and that, after the approval of the Anmat – -which they estimate will be in the next few days-, the doses may already begin to be applied in our country. These are the first 140,625 component one vaccines manufactured by Richmond. The remaining doses to reach 1.3 million of that component that have already been manufactured by the laboratory and sent to Russia for testing, as well as one million of component two, will be authorized in the coming days. “Today (yesterday) is a sad day because we have passed the number of 100,000 deaths. I think the best tribute we can pay them is to take care of those who are there and one way to do so is to continue manufacturing the vaccine in Argentina,” he said. the president in a context in which, with the last flight in which 768 thousand Sinopharm vaccines arrived, Argentina has already exceeded 32 million doses received. The Ministry of Health stressed that “this fact gives international visibility and positions Argentina as a key player in the development of vaccines in the world. “
“A few moments ago the Gamaleya Institute gave us approval of the first industrial batch manufactured by Richmond Laboratories to be used in our country,” Figueiras expressed with emotion in a videoconference he held with President Fernández, who was in his office at Casa Rosada , and showed in front of the screen the letter that Gamaleya sent and that was written in Russian. During the last few days, Figueiras has been traveling through Europe and Russia in order to closely follow the production approval process that Richmonds sent. The Argentine government, meanwhile, did not neglect this process either. For this reason, the president of Richmond on different occasions held meetings with the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, and the presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini. The last of them last week in the Government House.
Fernández was waiting for the news that Figueiras gave him this Thursday because of the meaning that locally manufactured vaccines can begin to be applied in Argentina as soon as possible. In this sense, the President thanked Figueiras “from the heart on behalf of all Argentines” and assured that it is “an infinite advance because it is very important that in a time like the one the world lives in Argentina we are producing a Sputnik V quality vaccine ”. “Let’s hope that Anmat approves what Gamaleya has already approved and that we can quickly begin to apply them,” the president stressed.
“It is a great pride that an Argentine laboratory has the technological capacity to develop a product as careful and special as the vaccine against covid-19,” said Fernández. In addition, he remarked that it is “a very important step and a private company has done it, the State has helped in what was within its reach, but the central merit is of the private activity, which bet and put all the necessary technology to produce this ”.
Until now, the Richmond laboratory has worked tirelessly to produce and send vaccines to Russia to be tested and applied in our country. Thus, on June 18, the production of the first 448,625 doses of component one ended; on July 2, 550,000 doses of the same component were completed and there was a third batch of more than 300,000. On the 6th of this month, meanwhile, the first 153,441 doses of component two came out and in the last days more than 890,000 were manufactured, reaching 1,010,000 of that component. The samples from each batch consisted of approximately 80 bottles that were sent to Moscow for the Gamaleya Center to carry out quality control. As indicated from Richmond, the normal approval time for each lot is usually 10 days and, although this time it was delayed because it was the first, they estimate that those deadlines can be met for the missing lots.
In turn, Figueiras also said he was proud of the achievement and conveyed his gratitude “to all those who collaborated in this process to be able to meet the challenge in such a short time. To the Presidency, to the ministries of Health, Economy and Productive Development, to Anmat, which supported and guided us, to our colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry, especially MR Pharma, and to so many companies in Argentina and abroad that have helped. Especially to our scientists, doctors, technicians, professionals who gave everything and will continue to give it ”. Along these lines, he added that “we are proud to add our humble contribution”, and told Fernández: “we are with you to try to make a better country, count on us, we know we can count on you.”
The vaccines produced by Richmond are made with the antigen imported from Russia. Formulation, filtering and packaging take place locally. This week, it was also known that the laboratory obtained the approval of the National Securities Commission that will allow it to seek the necessary financing for the construction of a new plant that will be located in the town of Pilar. Sputnik V and other biotech therapies will be produced there. At the plant, which they estimate will be completed in October 2022, the total production capacity could reach about 80 million vials per year and about 28 million syringes for the same period. “Argentina was needing to have this vaccine. We know that the pandemic will continue, but having the vaccine will give us peace of mind so that the pain is less,” Fernández said to conclude the communication with Figueiras.
