BRIN: Red And White Vaccine Research Faces Limited GMP Infrastructure

JAKARTA - Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Laksana Tri Handoko said that the development of the Merah Putih vaccine faces constraints on the limited production infrastructure with Good Manufacturing Practices (CPOB) standards.

"Currently the main obstacle is the availability of limited production infrastructure with GMP standards for each platform," he said, quoted by Antara, Friday, December 3.

Another obstacle he also faced, he said, was the limited facilities for stage 2 preclinical testing using the primate macaca fascicularis (long-tailed monkey).

"It is also a challenge that researchers face in conducting research and development of the Red and White vaccine in the country," he said.

To overcome these obstacles, BRIN is building two main infrastructures, namely production infrastructure with GMP standards and a phase 2 preclinical test facility in the Cibinong Science Center area in Bogor Regency, West Java.

He hopes that the two infrastructures can be ready by the end of the first quarter of 2022 so that they can be immediately used to help develop vaccines in the future.

The research facility, he said, could not only be used for the development of the Merah Putih vaccine, but also for the development of various vaccines for humans and animals in the future.

Previously, the emergency distribution permit for the use of the Red and White vaccine was targeted to be obtained in mid-2022.

The fastest progress in developing the Merah Putih vaccine is currently being carried out by a team from Universitas Airlangga in collaboration with PT Biotis, and a team from the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology in collaboration with PT Bio Farma.