VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Chinese vaccine development company Sinovac Biotech and Indonesian pharmaceutical company Bio Farma have transferred technology for manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine. 

President Director of Bio Farma Honesti Basyir, in a media presentation with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday, stated that in connection with this the Sinovac delegation had visited the Bio Farma facility on Sep. 21-23, 2020.

"This visit focused on discussing the implementation of technology transfer. The production process and quality testing of the COVID-19 vaccine for Bio Farma, in addition to seeing Bio Farma's readiness to produce bulk vaccines from Sinovac," Honesti said.

He added that Sinovac also discussed its company's commitment to send raw materials for the COVID-19 vaccine gradually, namely 50 million doses in November 2020 to March 2021, and Bio Farma expects an additional 210 million doses from April 2021 to December 2021.

Development and testing of the Clinical Sinovac vaccine in Indonesia is in collaboration with Bio Farma with the Indonesian Health Research and Development Agency and the Indonesian Food and Drug Administration (BPOM).

"To maintain and ensure the quality of the COVID-19 vaccine, starting from its raw material, BPOM will conduct an audit visit to the vaccine development and production process at the Sinovac facility in Beijing, China, in early November," Honesti said.

The Phase III clinical trial of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in Bandung has been ongoing for over one month, with 1620 volunteers showing fairly good initial results without reports of significant side effects, and is targeted for completion in May 2021.

Meanwhile, Bio Farma will apply for vaccine registration through the Emergency Use Authorization mechanism by submitting an initial report on the immune response of vaccine users, which is scheduled for January 2021.

"While waiting for the clinical trial to be completed, preparation for vaccine production will start from November to December 2020. If clinical trials are successful, Bio Farma will start producing vaccines in January 2021," Honesti said. (Antaranews)