President Joko Widodo (left) and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir (second right) visit state-owned drugmaker Bio Pharma's plant in Bandung, West Java, on August 11 (Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/)Hanoi (VNA) - IndonesianPresident Joko Widodo said over the last threemonths, the country has been developing a coronavirus vaccine with brand MerahPutih, which is hoped to be completed by mid-2021.
The vaccine is jointly developed by Indonesia'sstate-owned pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma and China-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech and other stakeholders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and theRepublic of Korea (RoK), the President told reporters during his working visit to West Java province onAugust 11.
On July 21, a total of 2,400 doses of vaccine from Sinovac were handed over to Bio Farma for the trial of the third phase.
According to Honesti Basyir, Bio Farma CEO, theclinical trial of the vaccine is scheduled to run for six months, so it istargeted to be completed in January 2021.
If the clinical trial goes well, Bio Farma will produce it in the firstquarter of 2021, he said, adding that the company has prepared productionfacilities with a maximum production capacity of 250 million doses per year.
Along with the vaccine development, Bio Farma has also conducted four other researchto respond to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including producing realtimepolymerase chain reaction, convalescent plasma therapy, producing mobile BSL 3laboratories, and manufacturing viral transport media./.
VNA
