UNAIR NEWS – Collaboration is the key to great results and masterpieces. Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia, and Dr Soetomo Hospital (RSDS) have collaborated to face the pandemic. UNAIR researchers have developed a vaccine that is now mass-produced, a vaccine with an inactivated platform, the INAVAC vaccine.
It was conveyed by President Director PT Biotis Pharmaceutical Indonesia, FX Sudirman. He was grateful to be able to work with UNAIR in producing this phenomenal work. He conveyed his impression at Gathering and Appreciation Event for Contribution of Hospital Partners in 2022 Merah Putih Vaccine (INAVAC) Development Clinical Trials on Friday, February 3, 2023, at Bumi Surabaya City Resort.
“Initially, the RSDS team and UNAIR team developed vaccines with the same platform of AstraZeneca, adenovirus. That was long before the president issued Presidential Decree No. 18 of 2020. So the first vaccine development was in Surabaya,” he said.
Along the way, he realized that the development of a vaccine required a lot of funds and resources. He contacted the government to include the development idea in the national consortium.
Challenges were also present in the process, such as an initial platform that was not good enough to continue on an industrial scale to a process whose halal status was doubtful. Researchers consider that the halal factor is a fairly important aspect. Finally, the platform replacement proposal was submitted to the government.
“Merah Putih vaccine can’t be non-halal, and it was made in East Java. So, okay, this is God’s way, we returned to the initial platform, which is very basic, inactivated,” he explained.
He was also grateful for the help that has been given so far. As a new company, PT Biotis was guided by many parties in its upscaling process, both the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Agency and UNAIR researchers. Finally, a lot of growth occurred during the vaccine development process.
“We still have two more tasks, clinical trials for adolescents and children. And also the challenge from the Minister of Health to conduct additional clinical studies on its combination with first booster from Pfizer and others, whether the second booster for INAVAC has a positive impact or not,” he explained.
During this event, UNAIR Rector also gave appreciation to several parties who supported the creation of INAVAC vaccine, including the Governor of East Java, the Mayor of Malang, the Regent of Jember, Dr Soetomo Hospital, Syaiful Anwar Hospital Malang, Universitas Airlangga Hospital, Jember Lung Hospital, and Soebandi Hospital Jember. (*)
Author: Afrizal Naufal Ghani
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
