BPPT Performs Technological Engineering For Drug Innovation

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) conducts technological engineering for drug innovation in order to encourage the independence of the Indonesian nation's drug industry.

"For the independence of the national medicine, vaccine and medical equipment industry, BPPT carries out technology engineering activities to produce innovative products that can be utilized by the industry to be mass-produced and commercialized," said Head of BPPT Hammam Riza, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 17.

Hammam said that the technological engineering of innovative drugs, vaccines, and medical devices includes technological innovations of synthetic and purified raw materials, technological innovations of herbal medicinal raw materials, technological innovations of biopharmaceutical drug raw materials, and technological innovations for handling COVID-19 through the Research and Development Task Force. Technological Innovation for Handling COVID-19 (TFRIC-19).

Technological innovation for handling COVID-19 is focused on efforts to strengthen the identification and diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, develop laboratory facilities, and develop supporting facilities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by involving research and development institutions, universities, industry and associations.

Including start-up companies in the health sector and assisted by stakeholders to produce product innovations that can be produced by domestic industries.

Some of the innovative products that have been and are being developed include raw materials for the drug Dextrose monohydrate and pharmaceutical salt, herbal anti-cholesterol drugs, as well as diagnostic kits and the Dengue vaccine, Human Pavilloma Virus.

Meanwhile, for handling COVID-19, several products have been produced, including the RI-GHA Antibody Rapid Diagnostic Test, BPro Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Test, mBiocov PCR test kit, whole genome sequencing data for the Indonesian SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In addition, TFRIC-19 produces information technology and artificial intelligence products to support COVID-19 diagnostics, Mobile BSL-2, and ventilators, as well as being involved in the Merah Putih vaccine consortium especially related to vaccine adjuvant technology innovations.

In an effort to meet oxygen demand, the development of oxygen generators faces obstacles, one of which is the difficulty of raw materials so that an effort to substitute for imported oxygen generator raw materials is carried out, namely upgrading zeolite as a membrane to produce medical standard oxygen, reconditioning the zeolite produced by PT Pupuk Kujang (imported raw material) type X becomes nano-porous.

Efforts to substitute imported raw materials are also carried out by synthesizing natural zeolite with chemical treatment methods to produce medical oxygen zeolite standards. The raw material for zeolite will be downstreamed to PT Polyjaya Medical as an oxygen generator manufacturing industry to make the zeolite industry together with PT Pupuk Kujang.

These innovation activities are aimed at supporting economic growth in the context of independence and increasing competitiveness through collaboration with national pharmaceutical industry partners from the start according to the needs of national innovation products.