Indonesian state-owned enterprise specialized in vaccine production, Bio Farma, 
hosted Cold Chain Management System workshop for the member states of 
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, on 
October 1-2, 2019. Held in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Republic 
of Indonesia, the Workshop is designed to become the experience and knowledge 
sharing platform and help the OIC members witness the entire spectrum of 
vaccine production - right from the research, marketing, up to the distribution 
of vaccines.

The Workshop is a part of Bio Farma's road map implementation after Indonesia 
being named as The Center of Excellence in terms of bio-technology and vaccine 
products on December 2017. 

In her remarks, Minister of Health, Nilla F. Moeloek, noted that the global 
health issues keep getting challenging as ever. The ever-increasing pathogen 
risk, animal-to-human diseases, and antimicrobial resistance are just a few of 
so many health issues that the world currently has to face.

"The access to high-quality vaccines and drugs as well as the other 
bio-technology products plays a pivotal role in coping with such issues. 
However, not all of the OIC member states have such a privilege," said Moeloek.

She continued, Indonesia is eager to reassert its position as the Center of 
Excellence of bio-technology and vaccine products for OIC.

"Indonesia will keep providing necessary supports for all of the OIC members to 
fight all of the ever-increasing health issues," she stated.

On the same occasion, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Science and 
Technology, Askar Musinov, conveyed that Bio Farma has contributed 
significantly in helping all of the OIC members address many kinds of health 
issues.

"I hope that all of the incoming participants can leverage what Bio Farma is 
capable of and, eventually, we can see the vaccine and drug independence in all 
of the OIC members," said Askar.

During the Workshop, 22 incoming member states visited a number of the 
state-owned company's facilities, such as the research and development, 
packaging, and distribution facilities.

Vice Chairman of OIC Vaccine Manufacturers Group M. Rahman Roestan added that 
the Workshop is a manifest of global trust to the Indonesian pharmaceutical 
industry.

"It's such an honor to have such a global recognition. We are committed to 
providing continued training and knowledge transfer efforts to help all of the 
OIC members be pharmaceutically resilient," asserted Rahman.

Furthermore, Rahman continued, through the Workshop, together with all the OIC 
members, Bio Farma can develop the new potential vaccines to address the 
currently unmet health issues, such as HIV, dengue fever, and Ebola.

"It usually takes 10-20 years to develop a new vaccine. Through this 
collaboration, we really hope that we can abridge the process," Rahman 
expounded.

As a state-owned company, Bio Farma is responsible to ensure the vaccine 
resilience and availability, not only in Indonesia, but also throughout the 
Islamic countries worldwide.

CONTACT:  Iwan Setiawan 
          Head of Corporate Communications
          Bio Farma
          iwan.setiawan@biofarma.co.id
          +62 -2-2033-755 

SOURCE:   Bio Farma