Pertamina-Kimia Farma Synergy, Efforts to Press Import of Pharmaceutical Raw Materials
Jakarta, July 25, 2020 – PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (KPI) as the Sub holding Refinery and Petrochemical of PT Pertamina (Persero) is in synergy with PT Kimia Farma Tbk to optimized potential added value from the development of Petrochemical derivative products into pharmaceutical raw materials, such as Paracetamol.
The synergy marked by the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further discover the potential of collaborative development of the pharmaceutical raw materials industry. The signing of the MoU was done virtually between the President Director of PT Pertamina International Refinery, Ignatius Tallulembang, and the President Director of PT Kimia Farma Tbk, Verdi Budidarmo. It was witnessed by Vice Minister of SOEs, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero), Nicke Widyawati, and President Director of SOEs Pharmaceutical Holding PT Biofarma (Persero), Tbk, Honesti Basyir.
Vice Minister of SOEs, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that this synergy is following the directions of the President of the Republic of Indonesia to increase the national pharmacy industry's independence. At the same time, it helps to reduce Indonesia's trade balance deficit in the pharmaceutical sector, considering that 95% of the total needs of Indonesia's pharmaceutical raw materials are still supplied through imports.
According to him, this synergy began with an explanation and study conducted by Pertamina to optimize raw materials in the Cilacap Refinery into pharmaceutical raw materials.
"It was not even one month since the time the study was conducted. I am proud and want to congratulate Pertamina's team for their agility and speed in responding to the demands of shareholders, which in this matter is the Government," he said at the signing of the MoU on Friday (24/7). The Government hopes that this agreement can be followed up immediately into more concrete cooperation.
President Director of PT Pertamina, Nicke Widyawati, explained that according to the Government's directives to reduce imports of pharmaceutical raw materials, Pertamina has determined that Petrochemical products will become a mainstay business line in the future when there is an energy transition.
"For this reason, Pertamina is trying to identify opportunities to enter pharmaceutical raw materials and logistics. And it was answered by Kimia Farma in which we have explored. We are grateful for the support of the Government," she said.
According to Nicke, Pertamina has done the first technical trial of the project and later collaborated with Kimia Farma to formulate in the form of the cooperation agreement. For the realization, the Cilacap Refinery has been prepared in which one of them is for the processing of Petrochemicals into pharmaceutical raw materials.
After the Cilacap Refinery, said Nicke, it can be continued at other refineries with a bigger scale and different types, because one of Pertamina's future business focuses on Petrochemicals. As a holding, Pertamina will oversee this process. Therefore, it can be realized according to the expectations of the Government.
On the same occasion, President Director of SOEs Pharmaceutical Holding, Honesti Basyir, said that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Kimia Farma was in the form of a synergy of industrial cooperation in the development of pharmaceutical raw material providers. It includes techno-economic aspects and research and development aspects.
"One of our focus is that business integration in the SOEs Pharmaceutical Holding needs to be accompanied by the collaboration with strategic partners. Therefore we can strengthen the competitive capability, especially in ensuring the supply of pharmaceutical raw materials and Petrochemical product development. Hence, we hope to be able to feel the efficiency of this business collaboration. Hopefully, the cooperation with PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional under the auspices of PT Pertamina (Persero) can run well and provide significant benefits for us all," said Honesti. **