TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Gatot Subroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) on Tuesday announced that it will start its reasearch on dendritic cell for Covid-19 treatment from scratch by adopting a service-based research.

“We will consolidate this again on what types of services it will be,” said the Head of RSPAD Lieutenant General Albertus Budi Sulistya to Tempo on Tuesday, April 20.

Budi explained that this will be conducted between researchers from the RSPAD, Nusantara Vaccine program, clinical research organizers, and also sponsors which consist of Rama Emerald and AIVITA Indonesia.

The involvement of United States researchers as what happened before in the Nusantara Vaccine development is yet to be confirmed as he mentioned a redesign in the research methodology.

“It may not be too different but in the practice, it will be a service-based research,” said Budi.

The RSPAD Head asserted that the research result will be able to be used as a basis for future scientific developments. He promised to issue every result found in the research in medical journals.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Health Ministry, Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM), and the Indonesian Army (TNI AD), following the controversy surrounding the Nusantara Vaccine. The development of the vaccine, that uses dendritic cell treatment, was initiated by former health minister Terawan Agus Putranto.

Read: Army Hospital, BPOM to Conduct Deindritic Cell-based Research

EGI ADYATAMA