Asia-West / Mid-East / North-Africa

After announcing the first government clearance for a coronavirus vaccine, Russia delayed distributing it. It remains unclear how many people have received it.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday it will supply India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories with 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine against COVID-19 once it receives regulatory approval in India.

On August 11th, Putin announced the approval of the world's first vaccine against COVID-19.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, says Russia has registered a possible COVID-19 vaccine with state regulators, and that one of his daughters has been injected with it.

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people.

Officials in Russia and the West express alarm at the speed of vaccine development and the methods used.

Russia intends to be the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, despite concerns about its safety, effectiveness and whether the country has cut essential corners in development.

Novartis’s Sandoz division will not profit from 15 generic drugs it is making available to developing countries to treat symptoms of COVID-19 for the pandemic’s duration.

The fund also pledged Dh1.4 million to support the treatment of cancer patients in the UAE.

The prices of products have increased ten folds since the beginning of the crisis in Syria nine years ago. In recent months, the situation even got harder.

In a race to find a cure for COVID-19, scientists at Israel top have managed to isolate a key coronavirus antibody which could possibly neutralise the virus.

Pharma industry faces a perfect storm of cheap ruble, production backlogs, supply chain disruptions and high transport costs.

A number of Russian vendors have begun to raise drug prices by up to 15% because of the ruble’s devaluation during the coronavirus pandemic.

Products sent are ‘unrelated to coronavirus’.

Every country needs to keep preparing for large-scale community transmission, says regional director.