BANDUNG, Indonesia, August 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Islamic countries have acknowledged the importance of self-reliance in vaccine production and are committed to establishing closer cooperation towards achieving it, as they ended their 6th Annual Meeting of Self-Reliance in Vaccine Production (SRVP), in Bandung, Indonesia.

SRVP is supported by Islamic Development Bank (IDB), whereas the three-day meeting that was finalized on Monday (9/8) has elected Biofarma as the new focal point for Projects Implementation Monitoring and Razi Institute of Iran as the Training Manager; each of these institutions should provide the IDB with the name and contact address of their respective staff member in charge of this responsibility.

The participants have also discussed the serious negative effects of current sanctions against Islamic Republic of Iran on the development and production of vaccines, which are essential to the health of the populations.

Considering the increasing constraints caused by ever more stringent requirements from the WHO, the SRVP members agreed to constitute a task force from within their membership to formulate their proposals for input in the new WHO draft prequalification guidelines. Indonesia will assist vaccine producers in OIC countries to accelerate their achievement of WHO prequalification.

In order to speed up the implementation of the SRVP program over the coming year, they have proposed to constitute a resource base of relevant experts and consultants to help supervise the implementation of approved projects and the formulation of new proposals. To this effect, each SRVP member has been requested to upload its information in the SRVP web portal: Bio Farma will monitor this activity.

Considering the importance of promoting the production of halal vaccines by the OIC vaccine producers, the IDB is requested to support the convening of relevant consultations for a and the consultations of religious authorities for the establishment of relevant references and guidelines for this new industry: the monitoring team will be constituted of Bio Farma, Nine Bio and Razi Institute.

Considering the high cost and high risk associated with the development and production of vaccine, in particular Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine, the SRVP Group strongly recommends the involvement of the private sector, in particular within Public Private Partnership and the collaboration with Global Alliances Financiers with the support of IDB. Indonesia will open access to OIC countries for the development of new vaccines by using its new platform technology of delivery system.

The meeting was attended by Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Tunis and representatives of IDB, WHO as well as relevant experts as guest speakers from Australia and Belgium.

For further information, please contact: M. Rahman Rustan Corporate Secretary PT. Bio Farma (Persero) Phone: +6222-2033755 Fax: +6222-2041306 Website: http://www.biofarma.co.id

SOURCE: PT. Bio Farma (Persero)

CONTACT: M. Rahman Rustan, Corporate Secretary, PT. Bio Farma (Persero),+6222-2033755, Fax: +6222-2041306