Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) is currently offering assistance for 15 researches on herbal medicines to support COVID-19 treatment in a bid to strengthen pandemic-handling measures in Indonesia.
The BPOM is currently assisting 15 researches on herbal medicines or plant-based medicines as an adjuvant for COVID-19 treatment,” the agency's head Penny Kusumastuti Lukito stated during a webinar here, Wednesday.
Amid the pandemic, Lukito remarked that innovations in herbal medicines had become one of the priorities of various researches conducted to bolster COVID-19 handling measures.
The BPOM head explicated that the 15 researches comprised two researches for which clinical trials had been completed and were in the process of being registered, seven researches still in the research process, two in the process of developing clinical trial protocols, and four in the preclinical testing stages.
Apart from the 15 aforementioned researches, Lukito noted that the agency was also supervising 68 researches related to COVID-19 handling.
In order to extend full support for the development of herbal medicines resulting from research, the BPOM extends all-out assistance, right from the research stage to facilitating researchers and business actors during the development of drug products.
According to Lukito, assistance in the upstream sector is being conducted during research and development, right from preparing clinical trial protocols to conducting clinical trials in accordance with good clinical trial principles and methods.
In addition, she noted that the BPOM had offered various trainings, comprising training on ways to conduct good clinical trials and training on easier flexibility in the clinical trial and registration processes.
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