REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia are ready to produce its own amoxicillin instead of import the antibiotics since the amount of the import reaches 2,600 tonnes per year or 83 million USD.
"Almost 96 percent of the main ingredient for medicine, including amoxicillin, is imported, while in term of technology we have the capability to produce it," said the Deputy Head of Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Dr Listyani Wijayanti. The Director of Pharmacy and Medic Technology in BPPT, Bambang Marwoto, said the agency has the pilot for fermented facility to produce Penicillin G. He admitted that amoxicillin would not always be a prima donna as the bacteria could resist it. "But it opens the opportunity to develop other antibiotics," Marwoto said.