The Indian government has granted permission to Hetero Biopharma for the export of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik Light. A vaccine production partner of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Hetero Biopharma will export a total of four million doses of the vaccine to Russia, PTI reported. Sputnik Light is the first component of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine and is not authorised for emergency usage in India.

Elixirgen Therapeutics has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with an undisclosed pharmaceutical firm for the rights to market its Covid-19 vaccine EXG-5003 internationally, except in Japan. The intradermal, temperature-controllable, self-replicating RNA vaccine expresses the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s receptor binding domain. It can elicit strong cellular immunity to offer wider protection against variants. The company is presently dosing subjects in a Phase I/II clinical trial of the vaccine in Japan.

Indian firms Aurobindo Pharma and MSN Laboratories have separately sought permission from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation’s Subject Expert Committee to conclude the late-stage clinical trials of Merck’s investigational oral antiviral therapy, molnupiravir, for the treatment of moderate Covid-19 patients. The move comes after Merck reported that the drug demonstrated favourable results in a trial involving subjects with mild-to-moderate disease.