Indonesia Develops Radiopharmaceutical for Diagnosis of Tuberculosis outside the Lungs
Brought under control in much of the developed world, tuberculosis, or TB, remains one of the leading causes of death in many developing countries. In Indonesia, where over 360,000 cases are discovered each year, and another 600,000 cases are estimated as unreported, detection of a form of tuberculosis that affects organs other than the lung will soon become easier – thanks to a new radiopharmaceutical developed by the country’s National Nuclear Agency (BATAN), with support from the IAEA.
BATAN is
the only domestic manufacturer of radiopharmaceuticals in Indonesia, though its
market share cannot be estimated due to the lack of industry-wide data, said
Wida Rahayu, a project manager at Kimia Farma, the majority state-owned company
that commercializes the radiopharmaceuticals produced at BATAN. These include
compounds used for the diagnosis of various types of cancers and heart
conditions as well as painkillers for terminally ill cancer patients,
representing an alternative to morpheme. Several other compounds for use in
cancer treatment are currently under licensing and registration. For the time
being, these products are available only in Jakarta and Central Java, so
scaling up production to be able to supply the rest of the vast country is
planned, she said.
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Source: IAEA