Biotechnology center to be inaugurated

Biotechnology center to be inaugurated

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is scheduled to dedicate a
new facility tomorrow which will accelerate Indonesia's leap into
the biotechnology industry.

The Biotech Center, as the new facility is called, will also
present five studies on medicine-processing technologies that
will allow Indonesia to produce raw materials for medicines and
reduce its dependency on imported medicines, which currently meet
90 to 95 percent of domestic needs.

Biotech Center Manager Muhammad Said Didu said local drug
manufacturers will be able to take advantage of the new
technologies to help reduce the price of drugs in the
country.

The Indonesian Consumer Protection Agency early this month
blamed the strong reliance on imported raw materials for high
medicine prices in Indonesia, which are among the highest in the
Asia-Pacific region.

The US$32-million-center comes under the supervision of the
Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT),
which is chaired by State Minister of Research and Technology
B.J. Habibie. It is located inside the Center for the Development
of Science and Technology in Serpong.

The Biotech Center, which has been in operation since last
April, will be officially opened by President Soeharto tomorrow.

BPPT director for assessment of life sciences Tisno Suwarno
told reporters yesterday that the center will focus on industrial
and agricultural applications of biotechnology in the areas of
antibiotics, vitamins, plantation and crop seedling, embryo
transfer and fishery cytology.

Modern biotechnology, he added, has opened up new
possibilities in the industries of health, agriculture, chemical,
energy, mining and waste treatment.

He added that the Biotech Center has also been developing
programs in cooperation with foreign institutions. (31)