Indonesia is edging closer to becoming a vaccine hub, as a number of locally developed COVID-19 vaccines enter the advanced stages of clinical trials and are expected to be mass-produced in the next few months.

State-run pharmaceutical firm Bio Farma started on Thursday the phase III clinical trials of a locally made COVID-19 vaccine candidate called the State-owned Enterprises (BUMN) vaccine. It is in the last stage of clinical testing in humans, during which the vaccine is given to thousands of people to confirm and expand the results on its safety and efficacy from phase I and II trials.

The development of the BUMN vaccine started in June of last year in cooperation with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, the United States. The vaccine candidate, which uses a piece of the coronavirus spike protein called the receptor binding domain as its platform, was first tested on humans in December of last year.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Nina A. Loasana (The Jakarta Post)

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