Sputnik Light vax: Hetero arm gets CDSCO approval

Hyderabad: Drug firm Hetero on Monday said its biologics arm has received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to manufacture and sell Sputnik Light for restricted emergency use in India.

Hetero is the first biopharmaceutical company in India to receive Manufacturing and Marketing (M&M) approval for the product manufactured locally for the prevention of Covid-19 in adults aged over 18 years, administered in a single dose of 0.5 ml, the company said in a statement.

All other currently approved vaccines in India require two doses of administration, it added. Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26)) of Sputnik V – the world's first registered vaccine against Covid-19.

In February 2022, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted emergency use permission to single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine in India.