UNAIR NEWS – Prof Dr Apt Aty Widyawaruyanti Dra MSi has officially inaugurated as a new professor of UNAIR on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The inauguration made Prof Aty the 32nd active professor of Faculty of Pharmacy, the 511th professor since the institution’s establishment, and the 251st since UNAIR was appointed as a Legal Entity State University (PTN-BH).
Prof Aty, inaugurated as the professor in Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, delivered her scientific oration on “Developing the plant-based medicine for malaria to make Indonesia Malaria-Free in 2030”. According to the professor concerned with exploring plant-based medicine, malaria remains an unsolved medical problem in Indonesia.
“The main problem in this disease management is the plasmodium resistance to the malarial medicine. Therefore, research on discovering new malaria medicines is urgently needed, including antimalarials derived from plant-based traditional medicines,” she said.
Traditional medicine has not been deemed phytopharmaceutical drugs
Generally, some regions in Indonesia have used traditional plants to treat malaria for a long time. However, the method, dosage, and duration of use are not standardized, leading to inconsistent efficacy.
“It is necessary to conduct research and development of malaria plant-based medicine as phytopharmaceutical drugs so that traditional medicines that have been used can be scientifically proven for their efficacy, safety, and good quality,” stated the professor who was born in Jakarta.
Therefore, research on standardization, formulation studies, product efficacy testing, and assessing the safety of malaria drug products are urgently necessary. Based on the previous research that has passed through the aforementioned stages, Prof Aty has developed prototypes of malaria medicines in the form of ethyl acetate fraction tablets of green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata) and capsules of ethanol extract of cempedak stem bark, which have been standardized, safe, and proven to be effective, both pre-clinical and clinical.
To realize Indonesia Malaria-free in 2030
To make Indonesia free of Malaria in 2030, the professor listed in the Alper Doger (AD) Scientific Index’s Top 100 Medical and Health Sciences Scientists, believes in the great potential of malaria medicine derived from traditional medicines and Indonesian plants.
“Apart from the Ministry of Health policy regarding the use of plant-based malaria medicine, it is also necessary to implement collaboration between academia, business, and government, to produce plant-based malaria medicine in order to achieve ‘Indonesia Malaria-Free in 2030’ program,” she said.
Author: Stefanny Elly
Editor : Binti Q. Masruroh
