UNAIR NEWS – The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of Indonesia support the realization of the Merah Putih Vaccine Universitas Airlangga platform, which has gone through phase 1 of the preclinical trial. The support is shown from a meeting discussing the development of Merah Putih Vaccine UNAIR platform.
The meeting was held online and offline at the Balairua Room Management Office Campus C UNAIR, Friday afternoon, May 28, 2021. Several officials attended the meeting, including Prof. Dr. Ni Nyoman Tri Puspaningsih, M.Si., UNAIR Covid-19 Research Coordinator as well as UNAIR Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Community Development; Dida Gardera, ST., M.Sc, Assistant Deputy for Agro, Pharmacy, and Tourism of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; and Sudirman, Director of PT Biotis Prima Agrisindo. Several related officials from the Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of Indonesia, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, the Ministry of Health, Drug and Food Monitoring Agency were also attending.
In the meeting, the Head of UNAIR Merah Putih Vaccine research team Prof. Dr. Fedik Abdul Rantam drh, revealed that until now the development of UNAIR Merah Putih vaccine has entered phase 1 of the preclinical trial. It has shown good results.
“Regarding the antibody titer, the trend is very good, PA is also good, and the examination is still ongoing including immunotyping, kidney, hematology, toxicity, and total blood tests. The examination results will be used as the basis for conducting the phase 2 preclinical trial, “said Prof. Fedik.
For this reason, his team is currently preparing a phase 2 preclinical trial, including to macaque as a test animal.
“From there, we can determine how much efficacy, dosage, etc. for the preparation of phase 1 clinical trials in humans,” added Prof. Fedik. According to the current design, in August, phase 1 clinical trials on humans will begin.
Previously, Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) have conducted vaccine research on several platforms, such as the inactivated virus platform, the viral vector with adenovirus platform, and the peptide platform. The three platforms are still ongoing and construction of the inactivated virus platform has been completed early to advance to preclinical trials and clinical trials.
“Our plan, we prepare another virus variant. As another option if this one fails, there is a substitute, so no need to wait for more 10 months to make the vaccine seed, “said Prof. Fedik.
“We are finishing it (Merah Putih vaccine, ed). We hope in December it is complete, the longest will be in February or March to be included in the industrial scheme, ” he explained.
Furthermore, Prof. Fedik hoped that this research is in line with the expectations of the government and the Indonesian people, the independent development of vaccines so that the government can deal with the Covid-19 virus independently as well.
“As academics, we are optimistic that we can develop the technology to make our own vaccines. Of course, this is a start, “he said.
Author: Binti Q. Masruroh
