The Urgency of Observing Alternative Medicine Raw Materials in IndonesiaThe National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is a government agency that is under and directly responsible to the President of the Republic of Indonesia.BRIN has the task of carrying out research, development, assessment, and application, as well as integrated inventions and innovations.By: Okta Nama Putra, S.FarmThe Covid-19 pandemic should be able to make us aware, especially in the field of Pharmacy and medical devices.How is currently the need for drugs continues to increase during the pandemic.Unfortunately, this is not balanced by the production process of domestic medicines and medical devices, which are still few and minimal.Various problems arise related to the availability of medicines and medical devices produced in the country.Starting from distribution, production process, even to the availability of medicinal raw materials.Read also: Raw materials for medicine in Indonesia still depend on ChinaQuoted from Tempo.co's edition of Thursday, September 23, 2021, President Director of PT Bio Farma (Persero) Honesti Basyir said the pharmaceutical industry in Indonesia is not healthy.According to him, the basic problem is that more than 90% of the raw materials for making medicines are still imported from other countries.In fact, Indonesia's biodiversity is the largest in the world, he added.In terms of realizing health independence, especially the Pharmaceutical Industry and medical devices, it is necessary to make improvements in many ways.The formation of pharmaceutical holdings from all government and private institutions in Indonesia is expected to be able to jointly suppress problems related to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.One of the main objectives of the establishment of the pharmaceutical holding is so that Indonesia does not depend on imported raw materials, so that engineers and researchers are able to produce from upstream to downstream.Reducing the import of medicinal raw materials or BBO cannot be done one day and night.Even though the domestic demand for drugs has reached 90% according to need, the raw materials for medicines are still imported, whose value also reaches 90-95%.Complaints about the availability of medicinal raw materials were felt during the COVID-19 pandemic, where many pharmaceutical industries complained about delays in the process, even production delays due to empty BBO.This is because each country that imports medicinal raw materials secures their own raw material needs, to ensure the handling of the pandemic in their respective countries.This condition emphasizes that the discourse of forming a pharmaceutical holding has a difficult homework to do.BBO imports are carried out because Indonesia is not able to compete.The price of imported raw materials is much cheaper than the investment itself, said Honesti Basyir during a working meeting with Commission IX of the DPR RI.It is time for Indonesia to build competition so that it does not depend on imported medicinal raw materials.Research by Raharni et al (2018) from Balitbang of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, with the title Drug Independence and Availability of the National Health Insurance (JKN) Era: Policy, Price, and Drug Production, says that Indonesia is not yet independent in providing medicines.The basic problem of independence is because Indonesia is still dependent on imported medicinal raw materials.Furthermore, Raharni et al (2018) stated that the problem of independence was influenced by the limited number of experts who were able to produce medicinal raw materials, the infrastructure for pharmaceutical technology was still minimal, and there was no systematic policy that was able to direct the pharmaceutical industry players.Read also: LIPI Explores Indonesia's Marine Wealth to be Used as Raw Material for MedicineIf we talk about the huge biodiversity in Indonesia, actually there are medicinal raw materials to be produced in the pharmaceutical sector.It's just that continuity in terms of standardization is still a common concern of various institutions and developers.Natural resources such as cassava, sago, corn can be used as pharmaceutical starch which will later be used as medicinal raw materials.However, not a single pharmaceutical starch producer has yet been established.Meanwhile, the need for pharmaceutical starch still depends on imports from various countries.The processing of medicinal raw materials originating from Indonesian biodiversity, especially cassava, can be an alternative way to achieve health independence in the pharmaceutical sector.Cassava or sweet potato commodities can be chosen to be used as raw materials for medicine which will later be processed into cassava starch, because cassava plants have high environmental adaptability.Also read: Tbiluk Animals, Papuan Worms Believed to be Malaria DrugsFollowed by the detik.com column, Tuesday 21 September 2021 edition, national production of cassava reached 19 million tons (2018), Indonesia was ranked 4th in the world cassava producer.This shows that cassava production should also be able to support the pharmaceutical industry in the manufacture of cassava starch.According to the Global Cassava Starch Market, 2018. The natural starch industry in Indonesia continues to grow along with the large domestic consumption needs, currently reaching 2.5-3.7 million tons per year.Most of the raw materials for the national starch industry still rely on one commodity, namely cassava (tapioca), but its competitiveness is still low because the management pattern of starch resources is still conventional.The amount of native starch produced is often not sufficient for national needs so that in 2016-2018 it is necessary to import tapioca of more than 1,000,000 tons.The amount of tapioca traded in the global market ranges from 6,000,000-8,000,000 tons, approximately 6-7% of the total traded native starch.Starch plays an important role in the food processing industry widely.The basic starch is tapioca flour.Natural starches such as tapioca, corn starch, sago and other starches have several problems when used as raw materials in the food and non-food industries.When cooked, the starch takes a long time (to the extent that it requires high energy), and the pasta that forms is hard and not clear.In addition, it is too sticky and cannot withstand acid treatment.On the other hand, the industry requires starch with properties that are suitable for a particular designation, unmodified or natural starch is all types of starch produced from processing plants.Also read: Nuclear Acceleration of New Drug DevelopmentPregelatinization of starch is the simplest physical modification of starch which is done by cooking starch in water, so that it is perfectly gelatinized, then drying the resulting starch paste using a spray dryer or drum dryer.Because it has undergone gelatinization, the pregelatinated starch no longer has the appearance of starch granules.Pregelatinated starch is instant, which is soluble in cold water.Another starch modification process is using an extruder.This technology combines conveying, blending, temperature raising, shearing and other processes that occur in the extruder which causes thermochemical denaturation of starch.The innovation program for cassava starch as a medicinal raw material has been implemented, it is necessary to continue the innovation program in order to be able to reduce the rate of imports of medicinal raw materials from various countries.With the availability of medicinal raw materials from sustainable cassava starch, large quantities and competitive prices, it will provide raw materials for one of the impacts of bioindustry worth 26 trillion rupiah/year.Also read: Jakarta Bay Polluted with Paracetamol, what drug is it?The program to make cassava as a raw material for medicine will also trigger economic growth in marginal lands, thus also supporting equitable development.In addition, mastery of science and technology in creating medicinal raw materials from starch-based cassava starch will also be another important impact, considering that at the international level the technology for managing medicinal raw materials from cassava starch has not yet developed.Thus, this is an opportunity for Indonesia to reduce the number of imports of medicinal raw materials from various countries.In general, the Indonesian pharmaceutical industry still imports 95 percent of medicinal raw materials (BBO).For active BBO or active pharmaceutical ingredients/APIs, there are around 851 types, as well as excipients.A total of 441 ingredients, the majority of the pharmaceutical industry in Indonesia is engaged in the formulation industry or the drug manufacturing industry.The drug industry itself is still very dependent on BBO imports, which consist of active drug raw materials (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient/API) and supporting raw materials/excipients, especially from China, India, Japan and Europe.With the innovation in the production of medicinal raw materials from cassava starch, one of which is at the Center for Starch Technology - Lampung, it is hoped that the domestic pharmaceutical industry will no longer need and put pressure on importing medicinal raw materials from abroad.If this is supported by several aspects such as superior human resources, pharmaceutical policies and production processes, then delays and delays in the production of medicines can be minimized again and in line with the 2022 Health Development RPJMN, that BBO Research and Development Activities are a priority activity.Activities are focused on efforts to encourage and realize the independence of the pharmaceutical industry in producing medicinal raw materials.Okta Nama Putra, S.Farm First Engineer at the Center for Starch Technology – BRINThis article is part of Parapuan.Parapuan is a space for women's self-actualization to achieve their dreams.Write your comments with the hashtag #JernihBerkomentar and win e-vouchers for 90 winners!Get information and insight selected by Kompas.com editorsDouble check and complete your data.Your data will be used for account verification when you need assistance or when unusual activity is found on your account.Immediately complete your data to join the #JernihBerkomentar program.