Indonesia Lobbied Iran To Get Stock Of COVID-19 Therapeutic Drug Remdesivir

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said the Indonesian government was lobbying Iran to obtain stock of the COVID-19 drug Remdesivir.

"(The government) conducts diplomacy, such as with Iran because it has sufficient stock of Remdesivir in its country and actually we ask for the stock owned by their country to be sent to Indonesia to meet drug needs in Indonesia", said Siti Nadia in a virtual press statement, Tuesday, August 3.

According to Siti Nadia, Indonesia has difficulty getting 3 COVID-19 therapeutic drugs, namely Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Tocilizumab. Even though the need for COVID-19 therapeutic drugs has increased many times, according to data from the Ministry of Health as of July.

“We get these 3 types of drugs because they are much more difficult and the challenges are bigger because they are limited in supply. There are not many pharmaceutical companies that have this drug, only one pharmaceutical company has received a distribution permit, so we need to encourage other mechanisms”, said Siti Nadia.

Therefore, the government is trying to increase the stock of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs. According to Nadia, the need for stock of Remdesivir requires an additional 384 thousand.

"This is what we are trying to get from Iran", she said.