UPDATED: Europe reviewing Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, no talks to buy Russian vaccine

Europe’s medicines regulator said on Thursday it has started an ongoing review of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute for possible approval in the region, in a major sign of confidence in the shot.

The human medicines committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will review data from ongoing trials of the vaccine until there is enough clinical data for approval, the regulator said.

Sputnik V was almost 92% effective in fighting COVID-19, based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal last month.

The two-shot vaccine uses two different weakened common cold viruses to deliver immune-building protein to the human body.

EMA’s “rolling reviews” are aimed to speed up the process of approving a successful vaccine by allowing researchers to submit findings in real-time, even before final trial data is ready.

Russia expects several European countries to approve the Sputnik V this month, the chief of its sovereign wealth fund said.

Europe currently has approved vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech , Moderna and AstraZeneca /Oxford, while ongoing reviews for CureVac and Novavax’s candidates are already underway.

The EMA is also expected to give its verdict on J&J’s single-shot vaccine on March 11.

The European Commission said on Thursday that there were no talks under way to buy Russia’s COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine.

“Currently no talks are ongoing to integrate the Sputnik vaccine in the portfolio,” of COVID-19 shots ordered by the European Union, the spokesman told a news conference

Main Photo: A vial of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. EPA-EFE/Zsolt Szigetvary