Indonesia's Bio Farma Ready to Produce 20 Million IndoVac Vaccine Doses

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma expressed its readiness to produce up to 20 million doses of home-grown Covid-19 vaccine IndoVac for the initial first phase of production.

The firm’s president director Honesti Basyir said that the number can be increased to 40 million doses per year in 2023 with the increase in production facilities. Thereafter, in 2024, the production capacity can be increased to 100 million doses per year depending on the need and demand.

“IndoVac can be used for vaccinations of individuals aged 18 years and above in bulk,” State News Antara quoted Basyir on Thursday, Sept. 8.

Basyir explained that the development of the IndoVac vaccine had been conducted since Nov. 2021 by cooperating with Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) of the United States which provided vaccine seeds with a yeast-based sub-unit recombinant protein platform.

Also read: Indonesia to Launch Homegrown Covid-19 Vaccine Soon

Currently, IndoVac has undergone phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials and is in the process of phase 3 clinical trials for people aged 18 years and above.

“The use of the IndoVac vaccine technology platform is very beneficial because it is compatible with the equipment and facilities available at our factory. Besides, this recombinant protein technology platform also has another benefit wherein it can be adapted to new variants (strains) of Covid-19,” he said.

From the results of phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, IndoVac’s efficacy is not inferior to other Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

Basyir went on to add that since July 2022, Bio Farma had intensively communicated with the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) to fulfill the supporting data requirement, so that the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) permit could be issued soon, estimated in mid-September of 2022.

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At the same time, Bio Farma also applied for IndoVac halal certification. According to Basyir, IndoVac has passed a halal audit from the Indonesian Ulema Council Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Research Institute (LPPOM MUI).

Bio Farma also started clinical trials for the use of IndoVac as a booster vaccine on September 1, 2022.

In the long term, Bio Farma is also targeting to export the vaccine, as the firm has registered an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) with the World Health Organization (WHO).

“This vaccine can later be used in other countries through the COVAX Facility (multilateral) support mechanism. Through the Covid-19 vaccine, Bio Farma hopes to contribute to supporting world health, not only in Indonesia,” the Bio Farma president director said.

Source: State News Antara