PT Kalbe Farma Tbk has signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean company Genexine, Inc., to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
The clinical trial for the vaccine is planned to commence in June 2020.
“The cooperation in developing the COVID-19 vaccine is Kalbe’s contribution to helping the government overcome the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia,” said the Director of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, Sie Djohan.
Kalbe and Genexine have agreed to conduct a GX-19 clinical trial in Indonesia, namely the development of a DNA vaccine against the new coronavirus by the consortium. The grouping consists of 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 already been conducted on primates and was proven to produce antibodies capable of neutralising new coronaviruses. Therefore, the next stage will be safety tests on humans.
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“Kalbe hopes that, through the research and development of a COVID-19 vaccine, it can quickly get results so that the availability of vaccines in Indonesia can be guaranteed,” said Sie Djohan.
He added that Kalbe will partner with relevant government agencies to collaborate in developing the COVID-19 vaccine to ensure the research process runs smoothly and the results can be utlised for the benefit of the health of people in Indonesia.
Kalbe Farma is cooperating with Genexine to form PT Kalbe Genexine Biologic (KGBio), a joint venture company in developing and making raw materials for biotechnology drugs in Indonesia.
Source: Tempo
Image: Kompas