Dr Reddy's shut global plants after data breach days after approval to conduct Russian vaccine trial

Mumbai, 22-Oct-2020

Pharmaceutical giant Dr Reddy�s Laboratories (DRL) shut down its global plants after reporting a data breach in its servers. DRL plants at US, UK, Brazil, Russia and India have been impacted due to the data breach which occurred between 4-5 pm US time. The management refused to comment on the matter. The incident occurred just days after the company received Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) nod to conduct phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials for reworked protocol for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in India. Dr Reddy�s Laboratories and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia�s sovereign wealth fund, on October 17 announced that they will conduct an adaptive phase 2/3 human clinical trial for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in India. This will be a multi-center and randomized controlled study, which will include safety and immunogenicity study. Earlier in September 2020, Dr Reddy�s and RDIF entered into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in India. As part of the partnership, RDIF shall supply 100 million doses of the vaccine to Dr. Reddy�s upon regulatory approval in India. �This is a significant development that allows us to commence the clinical trial in India and we are committed to bringing in a safe and efficacious vaccine to combat the pandemic,� G V Prasad, Co-chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Reddy�s Laboratories, said. �We are pleased to collaborate with the Indian regulators and in addition to Indian clinical trial data, we will provide safety and immunogenicity study from the Russian phase 3 clinical trial. This data will further strengthen the clinical development of the Sputnik V vaccine in India,� Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, added.