Leading radiopharmaceutical production for 25 years
If approved, 99mTc-ethambutol will add to the growing repertoire of radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostic kits developed and produced by BATAN at its site next to Indonesia’s largest research reactor, whose radioactive energy provides the radioactive compounds of the drugs. BATAN’s researchers acquired much of the know-how from and through the IAEA over the last quarter century, Lubis said. They have participated in several technical cooperation projects, are active in coordinated research projects, and several researchers benefitted from fellowships and short courses at leading research institutions in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and various European countries. The IAEA has, through its technical cooperation programme, recently donated a gamma spectrometer for use in the quality control of radiopharmaceuticals manufactured at BATAN.
BATAN is the only domestic manufacturer of radiopharmaceuticals in Indonesia, though its market share cannot be estimated due to the lack of industry-wide data, said Wida Rahayu, a project manager at Kimia Farma, the majority state-owned company that commercializes the radiopharmaceuticals produced at BATAN. These include compounds used for the diagnosis of various types of cancers and heart conditions as well as painkillers for terminally ill cancer patients, representing an alternative to morphine. Several other compounds for use in cancer treatment are currently under licensing and registration. For the time being, these products are available only in Jakarta and Central Java, so scaling up production to be able to supply the rest of the vast country is planned, she said.
For BATAN it is important to move from pure research to the production of radiopharmaceuticals, though as a research institution it cannot do so on a commercial basis, said BATAN Chairman Djarot Wisnubroto. Increasing production of these compounds will contribute to the sustainability of the institution, earning more of its income from the market, which is a government expectation, he added.
