Universitas Gadjah Mada, in collaboration with PT Philippines Antiviral Indonesia (FAI), is developing an antiviral drug for Covid-19. This drug is currently under development and awaiting approval from BPOM and the Ethics Committee for clinical trials. The plan is that the Covid-19 anti-virus drug is targeted to be ready to be marketed in 2022. It was stated by the Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Alumni, Prof. Dr. Paripurna Sugarda, in his statement to reporters virtually during the UGM-Industry Research Forum 2020 activities on Wednesday (2/12).
Paripurna said that the drug development cooperation collaborated with FAI. This philanthropic company provided funding for UGM researchers to develop drugs to help overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. “This collaboration was initially to develop anti-inflammatory drugs, but was also developed for the Covid-19 antiviral as well,” he said.
According to Paripurna, UGM not only will produce COVID-19 diagnostic tools based on RI-GHA and GeNose antigens that detect Covid-19 from exhalation, through this collaboration with industrial partners, UGM will also produce anti-virus drugs. “We are not only producing Covid-19 positive detection kits, but we can also produce vaccines, we can even produce Covid-19 drugs,” he said.
Paripurna explained that the Covid-19 antiviral drug development is still waiting for research permission and clinical trials from BPOM and the Research and Development Ethics Committee. If the permit has been obtained, it has partnered with PT Kimia Farma to develop further. “For the developer, we are also collaborating with several hospitals in Indonesia,” he said.
The President Director of PT FAI, Mario Pacurso Marcos, said he welcomed implementing this collaboration with UGM in developing drugs to improve public health. He believes that UGM, with its research capacity, can produce international standard anti-inflammatory drugs and Covid-19 anti-virus drugs. “I hope that this collaboration will encourage human resource capacity building in Indonesia and the Philippines,” he said.
Jarir At Thobari, Ph.D., one of the research team members from FKKMK UGM, said that the development of anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs was deliberately chosen because only a few in Indonesia have developed them. “Some antiviral drugs are still very little researched and produced directly,” he said.
Until now, for the research and development of anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs, the ingredients for the formulas for the manufacture of the drugs still depend from import, but he is optimistic that the raw materials for these drugs will be able to be provided from the homeland after they are developed and produced by themselves. The clinical trial phase will begin next year. “Early next year, we will be able to carry out the (clinical trial) process,” he explained.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/20447-ugm-kembangkan-obat-antivirus-corona
