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* Russia unveils international price for its main vaccine
* Says it's cheaper than similar Western rivals
* Eyes ramping up production next year
* Presents new efficacy data
(Adds quotes, details, context)
By Andrew Osborn and Polina Nikolskaya
MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19
vaccine will cost under $20 per person on international markets
and Moscow aims to produce more than a billion doses at home and
abroad next year, its financial backers and developers said on
Tuesday.
The Sputnik vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite
that triggered the space race in a nod to the project's
geopolitical importance for Moscow, is administered in two
shots, each of which will cost less than $10, according to the
official Sputnik V Twitter account.
For Russian citizens, inoculation will be free of charge.
Mass vaccination in Russia, which has the world's fifth-highest
number of recorded COVID-19 cases, has yet to begin as so-called
Phase III clinical trials continue.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin
had yet to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. His position meant he
could not take something that was still being trialled, it said.
One of his two daughters had taken it however, Putin disclosed
in August, and felt fine afterwards.
Russia's pricing announcement comes as Russia looks to scale
up distribution and production and as three vaccines, one by
AstraZeneca, another by Pfizer/BioNTech
and a third by Moderna, have emerged
in the West, raising hopes that the global pandemic can be tamed
next year.
Moscow, keen to win global market share, touted the
international price for Sputnik V as competitive.
"It's more than twice as cheap as other vaccines that have
the same efficacy levels," Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's
RDIF sovereign wealth fund, told a briefing.
"Right now, Sputnik V is the cheapest vaccine with an
efficacy level above 90% in Phase III clinical trials".
The price of the Russian vaccine is cheaper than some other
Western rivals such as the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech,
which costs 15.5 euros per shot, but more expensive than the
vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford,
which will be sold in Europe for around 2.5 euros per shot.
Russia plans to produce around 2 million doses of Sputnik V
this year, and Dmitriev said Moscow and its foreign partners had
capacity to make more than a billion doses starting from next
year, enough to vaccinate more than 500 million people.
Over 50 countries had made requests for more than 1.2
billion doses, he said. Supplies for the global market would be
produced by partners in India, Brazil, China, South Korea,
Hungary and other countries.
'FREEZE-DRIED AND EFFECTIVE'
Production of a new freeze-dried form of the vaccine, which
means it can be stored in a fridge and is easier to distribute,
was also under way, he said, something he said he believed would
make it attractive for countries in Africa and Asia.
Talks were also ongoing with other foreign partners on
increasing production, he added.
RDIF and the Gamaleya National Center said earlier on
Tuesday that new clinical trial data based on 39 confirmed cases
and 18,794 patients who had both shots had shown that Sputnik V
was 91.4% effective on day 28 and over 95% effective on day 42.
That's well above the 50% effectiveness threshold for
COVID-19 vaccines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The data would be published in a leading scientific journal
next month for experts to scrutinise, Dmitriev promised.
The Phase III trial of the shot is taking place in 29
clinics across Moscow and will involve 40,000 volunteers in
total, with a quarter receiving a placebo shot.
Russia's healthcare system is under heavy strain, the
Kremlin said on Tuesday, as authorities reported a record 491
deaths linked to COVID-19 and infections surged.
Russia has been criticised by some scientists in the West
who have accused it of cutting corners in an effort to try to
rush out the vaccine and complained about the amount of data
available to allow others to interpret its research.
In particular, some Western scientists have criticised
Moscow for giving the regulatory go-ahead for the shot and
launching mass vaccinations before full trials had been
completed.
Russia has rejected such criticism and insisted that it is
doing everything safely and responsibly. It alleges a Western
dirty tricks campaign to put people off its vaccine in what it
believes has become a battle for legitimacy and market share.
Dmitriev on Tuesday praised Western success at developing
vaccines, saying the world would need different vaccines. He
said Russia was ready to share its know-how with manufacturers
such as AstraZeneca if helpful.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Polina Nikolskaya
Additional reporting by Anton Zverev, Maxim Rodionov and Moscow
newsroom
Editing by Nick Macfie)
