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(Adds quote, vaccine in high demand, export plan on hold)
By Anthony Boadle
BRASILIA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian drug maker União
Química expects to have regulatory approval and a government
contract by next week for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against
COVID-19, its director for international business Rogerio Rosso
told Reuters on Friday.
Rosso said the company expects to draw up a contract by
Wednesday with the health ministry for an initial 10 million
ready-for-use imported doses based on a reference price of $10
per dose.
He said the ministry is also interested in buying the firm's
entire domestic production of Sputnik V, an estimated 8 million
doses a month from April, for Brazil's national immunization
program.
Rosso added he expects Brazilian health regulator Anvisa
will approve emergency use of the Russian vaccine next week, as
the agency eased requirements for such an
authorization.
The first of 10 million doses committed by Russia are ready
for dispatch to Brazil as soon as Anvisa greenlights the shot.
Neither the health ministry nor Anvisa immediately replied
to a request for comment.
With approval by Lebanon on Friday, Sputnik V has been
authorized for emergency use in 18 countries besides Russia,
said the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is
marketing the vaccine. The two-dose vaccine has an efficacy of
91.6%, according to data published on Tuesday in The Lancet
medical journal.
RDIF chief executive Kirill Dmitriev has said Brazil could
become a Sputnik V supplier to its neighbors in Latin America,
where six nations have approved the vaccine, including
Argentina, which started immunizations with it in December.
Rosso, a former congressman and governor of Brasilia, said
that will have to wait now that the Brazilian government plans
to buy União Química's output, at least until the company can
ramp up production later this year with additional equipment.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle
Editing by Brad Haynes and Aurora Ellis)
