(Photo: Reuters)

Nguyen Ngo Quang, Deputy Director of the Health Ministry’s Department for Science, Technology and Training said on Tuesday that one contract was signed between two Vietnamese companies Vabiotech and AIC and Japanese pharmaceutical firm Shionogi for the Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein. The Health Ministry is preparing for the third phase of clinical trials in Vietnam and the vaccine should be on the market by next June.

A second contract involving Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was signed between Vabiotech, DS-Bio, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Under this deal, Vietnam will take charge of packaging the vaccine vials. Vabiotech has sent sample tubes to Russia for a quality check. After testing ends on August 10, Sputnik-V vaccine vials will be packaged by Vabiotech with an initial volume of 5 million doses per month, quickly scaling up to 100 million doses per year.

For the technology transfer with US partners, the Ministry of Health has dispatched a group of experts to complete dossiers for 3 phases of clinical trials using a shortened process, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO). Trials are expected to start on August 1 and end in late December. The technology transfer and construction of a vaccine factory in Vietnam will be completed by next June.