Jakarta, May 19, 2022

The Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices through the Directorate of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Resilience held an FGD meeting on Advocacy and Guidance for the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Context of Increasing the Use of Domestic Drug Raw Materials at the Mercure Gatot Subroto Hotel Jakarta.

The activity, which was officially opened by the Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, L. Rizka Andalucia, aims to:

1. To disseminate information, coordinate and synergize the programs of the Ministry of Health, especially the role and function of the Directorate of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Resilience in developing the domestic pharmaceutical industry;
2. Evaluate, map and inventory the problems and support needed by the pharmaceutical industry from the government;
3. Synergism of development programs to increase the use of drugs with domestically produced raw materials;
4. Increase the use of domestically produced drug raw materials by the pharmaceutical industry in Indonesia.

This FGD was held in a hybrid manner and was attended by representatives from 228 pharmaceutical industries consisting of 14 drug raw material industries and 214 formulation pharmaceutical industries, with the implementation method of delivering presentations by resource persons and discussions.

In her remarks, the Director General expressed his highest appreciation to the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Industry and also GPFI for the support that has been given to the government, especially in providing drugs as the main therapy and supporting therapy as well as the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Thanks to this support, the government can ensure that drugs and vaccines have been distributed to all areas in need, including for the purposes of telemedicine for self-isolation patients (Isoman) during the pandemic period," said the Director General.

During this pandemic, there are difficulties in accessing medicinal products, medicinal raw materials and medical devices due to lockdown policies implemented by countries to anticipate the impact of the spread of COVID-19, restrictions on the movement of goods and people, as well as restrictions on exports from global producers of medicinal raw materials, namely China and India due to an increase in drug demand.

As one of the government's responses in anticipating this pandemic, is to try to increase the resilience of the pharmaceutical and medical device supply chain system in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health has launched a health system transformation through a 6-pillar transformation, one of which is related to the strategic role of pharmaceutical companies is the transformation of the health resilience system, with a target of local production of 14 program vaccines and top 10 drugs by 2024.

In addition, strengthening the local production of essential medicines including blood products, other biological products, as well as standardized herbal medicines (OHT) and phytopharmaca in the context of developing and utilizing Indonesia's natural resources through the application of evidence-based medicine is also being encouraged to be developed and increased its use in the country.

"Keep in mind that the concept of Berdikari and Bangga Buatan Indonesia does not mean rejecting or reducing cooperation with other countries, but rather expanding international cooperation," said the Director General.

The government seeks to increase the production of medicinal raw materials, drugs, and medical devices as well as the use of domestic drugs and medical devices by encouraging investment in research-based industrial development and focusing on medium-high technology. Increasing the competence of human resources, especially the development of human resources in the field of biomedical engineering, continues to be carried out, including the Transfer of Knowledge and Technology. The government supports the development of an integrated Research and Development (R&D) Ecosystem between academia, private sector and government.

Acting. Director of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Resilience, Sodikin Sadek in his report said, "The FGD Advocacy and Guidance for the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Context of Increasing the Use of Domestically Produced Drug Raw Materials is expected to accelerate the use of domestic production to realize the resilience of pharmaceutical preparations and medical devices and support the Proud to Make Indonesia program".