RDIF, South Korean companies sign agreement on Sputnik V production

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) signed an agreement on the technological transfer and production of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in South Korea with GL Rapha, and ISU ABXIS, the fund said. "The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund), GL Rapha, one of the leading South Korean bio-tech companies, and ISU ABXIS (a subsidiary of ISU GROUP) have signed an agreement for technology transfer and production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus in Korea. In February 2021, GL Rapha completed organizing the consortium for production of Sputnik V in Korea including 8 leading pharmaceutical companies. The agreement between RDIF, GL Rapha and ISU ABXIS is the first trilateral contract for technology transfer with a company belonging to the Korean consortium," the statement said. According to RDIF, the pilot production of the vaccine at the ISU ABXIS facility located in Yong-In is expected to begin at the end of April "Korea is one of our major partners for production of Sputnik V and thanks to the agreement with ISU ABXIS we expect to increase production facilities in the country. Sputnik V is approved for use in 60 countries with total population of 3 billion people and we keep ramping up the production to meet the rising demand for the Russian vaccine," CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said. "It is the first case of the consortium that officially signed a contract with RDIF along with the actual technology transfer and with continuous communication, ISU ABXIS, will do our best to settle the production technology and the sufficient supply of Sputnik V as soon as possible,", Head of Business Development of ISU ABXIS Soohyun Jeong commented. Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside international financial and strategic investors. Read more