TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir said the acceleration of clinical trials carried out by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) on Ivermectin as a preventive therapy and treatment for Covid-19 patients will be the latest game-changer for Indonesia to contain the pandemic.

According to the plan, the drug will be priced between Rp5,000 to Rp7,000 per tablet. “With cheap and affordable drug prices, I believe people will be able to get them easily and not be burdened,” Erick said in a written statement on Tuesday, June 29.

He claimed he was mainly concerned about the provision of cheap medicine so that people who prioritize fulfilling their basic needs amid the pandemic will no longer be burdened with expensive drug prices.

“Besides for the prevention, it does not need to be consumed all the time, but only 2-3 tablets. And also for healing. Hopefully, our efforts to make our people healthy and make Indonesia free from this pandemic will soon be realized,” he added.

Erick also said that state-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Indofarma has prepared to mass-produce ivermectin. Thus, once the clinical trial is completed and the distribution permit has been issued by the BPOM, the medicine is ready to be mass-produced in a short time.

“In terms of infrastructure, we are ready to mass-produce Ivermectin. This drug will become a cheap therapeutic drug for people. Indofarma has prepared production of 4.5 million tablets per month,” said Erick Thohir.

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