Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Health Ministry will collaborate with a number of related partners from Japan to develop the national pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

"We invite partners from Japan to contribute to the development of pharmaceutical technology and medical devices in Indonesia," the ministry's secretary general, Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha, said in a statement received here on Monday.

The collaboration will be realized as part of the agenda of the “Indonesia-Japan Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Business Forum,” which was held in a hybrid format in Osaka, Japan, on October 6, 2022.

The forum, which was attended by more than 300 participants, was initiated through cooperation between the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, the Indonesian Consulate General in Osaka, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Indonesia-Japan Bilateral Committee, the Ministry of Industry, Indonesia Investment Promotion Center (IIPC) Tokyo, Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) Osaka, as well as several Japanese partners such as METI Kansai, FPMAJ, and JETRO.

According to Nugraha, the effort was part of Indonesia's strategies to strengthen the global health architecture during its G20 Presidency, especially the performance and resilience of the health system for achieving better public health status.

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The collaboration will target the six pillars of the National Health Transformation Program, which include the national health digital platform (SatuSehat), and the genomic approach (BGSi), he noted.

"This is in accordance with the needs of health services, both primary and secondary services, in the form of strengthening biotechnology through the mastery of viral vectors, nucleic acid-based technology, recombinant proteins to produce vaccines, and medicines for the Indonesian people," he added.

Examples of the products that will be produced under the cooperation include erythropoietin, insulin, monoclonal antibodies, and plasma derivative products. In the pharmaceutical sector, the ministry is domestically developing six out of ten active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Nugraha said he hopes that collaboration with Japan will increase further exploration through technology transfer and research collaboration to increase the production of medical devices, medical consumables in the country, and vaccine manufacturing.

“To achieve this resilience target, we have established policies that cover critical steps, starting from the facilitation of clinical trials and technology transfer. From the production side, we also prioritize accelerating domestic production," he added.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
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