TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) Head Penny Kusumastuti Lukito said the mass production of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine dubbed the Merah Putih vaccine was hoped to commence in early 2022.

“We hope that by the beginning of 2022, we will be able to produce the Merah Putih vaccine,” said Penny in a virtual press conference, Jakarta, Friday, April 16, 2021.

She explained the first Merah Putih (red and white) vaccine to be produced in large quantities was the one from the vaccine seeds developed by Airlangga University. The development process of the vaccine seeds will be continued and produced by pharmaceutical firm PT Biotis.

At present, the vaccine candidate is being developed by using inactivated virus vaccine platform in the pre-clinical trial. If it passes the pre-clinical test, the process will continue to clinical trial phase one.

“The clinical trial will likely complete in the fourth quarter of 2021. So in the early months of 2022, we hope it can be mass-produced already. It will be an inactivated vaccine in collaboration with PT Biotis,” Penny said.

Apart from supporting Airlangga University’s research team in studying and developing the COVID-19 vaccine seeds, BPOM is also assisting PT Biotis to meet the Good Manufacturing Practices.

Read: LIPI Eyes to Submit Merah Putih Vaccine Seeds Early Next Year

ANTARA