"We will fully support the GPFI in maintaining the nation's health resiliency," the Ministry's Pharmacy and Health Device Director General Lucia Rizka Andalusia noted through a statement on Friday.
At a discussion panel during the 16th GPFI National Deliberation event here on Thursday, Andalusia noted that the nation's self-reliance in the pharmacy sector is important.
This is can be achieved by the pharmaceutical industry by increasing domestic medicine production, so that the nation does not have to rely on imports.
This cannot be achieved by the pharmaceutical industry alone but should be supported by building an ecosystem through Pentahelix collaboration, starting from academicians, the industry, and the government, she opined.
This ecosystem can start to work from research to raw material and formulation in the form of medicinal products.
To support this effort, the ministry will provide non-fiscal facility in the form of clinical trial financing for innovators in the pharmaceutical industry, Andalusia explained.
She cited the Merah Putih vaccine currently being developed as an example of the innovation that the ministry will fund.
In addition, she expects that the GPFI can be involved in the production of complete basic immunization vaccine.
"We expect that these 14 complete basic immunization vaccines will be produced in Indonesia with the latest technology," she remarked.
Meanwhile, the National Agency of Drug and Food Control's (BPOM's) Drugs, Narcotics, Psychotropics, Precursors and Addictive Substances Monitoring Roro Mayagustina Andarini lauded GPFI's swift action in producing quality, safe, and nutritious medicines.
"The BPOM monitors them from the beginning, right from when the products are being prepared and until they are registered," she noted.
"We are very stringent when it comes to monitoring medicine products," she added.
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The BPOM provides assistance from the start, especially for researchers. As a result, they can communicate with one another during research at the onset, she noted.
BPOM's support is also directed toward providing relaxation to the pharmaceutical industry keen to propose a clinical trial.
"For instance, the pre-registration time period became six hours from 40 days," Andarini remarked.
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Translator: Naufal Fikri Y, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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