Kalbe Farma to Produce Erythropoietin (EPO) for Indonesia
Kalbe Farma, Indonesia's largest pharmaceutical company, is set to start marketing its erythropoietin product (also known as EPO) domestically. Starting from mid-2018 Kalbe Farma will produce EPO, one of the raw materials for the production of medicines to treat cancer and kidney disease. The pharmaceutical company will become the first publicly listed company on the Indonesia Stock Exchange that produces EPO.
Vidjongtius, Corporate Secretary at Kalbe Farma, expects a lot from the production of EPO. Not only because there should be plenty of domestic demand for the glycoprotein hormone (supported by the government's universal healthcare scheme), but it is also assumed there will become plenty of demand from other ASEAN countries as there are no EPO producers in this region.
However, Kalbe Farma will first focus on meeting domestic demand before eyeing any exports. Not the least because it requires time to fulfill all administrative processes before it can export EPO.
Currently Indonesia imports EPO from India and China, the largest EPO producers in the Asian region. In order to compete with these forces in the years ahead, Kalbe Farma needs to produce high quality EPO that is competitive in terms of price. With high-quality and affordable EPO, Vidjongtius believes Kalbe Farma can become the market leader in the ASEAN region.
EPO will be manufactured by Kalbe Farma's subsidiary Kalbio Global Medika, a company that is focused on biosimilar medication products. Its factory, which requires an investment of about USD $35 million, will be developed in Cikarang (West Java).
So far this year shares of Kalbe Farma have risen 4.29 percent.
Stock Quote Kalbe Farma - KLBF: