Kalbe Farma to Launch Covid-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials in June
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29 May 2020 09:17 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The publicly-listed pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma has signed a memorandum of understanding or MoU with a South Korean firm Genexine in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine. The clinical trials are planned to be launched in June 2020.
“This partnership on the vaccine development is Kalbe’s contribution to help the government contain the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia,” said Kalbe Farma Director Sie Djohan in a written statement on Thursday, May 28.
Kalbe and Genexine agreed to conduct clinical trials of GX-19 in Indonesia, a DNA vaccine development through a consortium, which included Genexine, Binex, the International Vaccine Institute(IVI), GenNBio, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), and Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH).
Sie Djohan said the vaccine research had been conducted on primates and is proven to produce antibodies that are capable of neutralizing the new coronavirus. Thus, the next step will be the tests on humans.
“Kalbe hopes this research and development of the Covid-19 vaccine can soon produce a solution so that the needs of vaccines in Indonesia can be guaranteed,” Sie Djohan said.
He added that Kalbe Farma will also cooperate with related governmental institutions to develop the vaccine. The partnership with Genexine gave birth to Kalbe Genexine Biologic (KGBio), a joint venture that develops and produces raw materials of biotechnology drugs in Indonesia.
EKO WAHYUDI