M Julnis Firmansyah, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo launched the Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility at East Jakarta's Pulogadung area on Friday, October 7, 2022.

The facility is claimed to be the first in Southeast Asia. The President also claimed that Indonesia will be able to produce its own mRNA vaccine through this platform.

"This is the inaugural in Southeast Asia. We surely do not want another pandemic, but we will surely be calm knowing that the domestic industry is prepared," said the President on Friday, October 7, 2022.

Through the establishment of this facility, Jokowi said clinical trials for vaccines can be completed within two months.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the establishment of this factory is a product of the Covid-19 pandemic after him and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin visited Shenzen, China to study biotechnology back in 2021.

Through this biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility, Health Minister Sadikin also said that this factory will open up the possibility of Indonesia becoming the world's biotechnology hub, especially considering Indonesia's broad biodiversity.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1642906/indonesia-launch-biopharmaceutical-manufacturing-first-in-se-asi