PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - BD (Becton Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company and Bio Farma, a life science company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to combat tuberculosis (TB) by providing access to BD's innovative TB diagnostic portfolio and establishing a partnership to optimize the supply chain for TB solutions in Indonesia.

The MOU reflects a strong commitment to public health and innovation, and was signed by Bio Farma, BD officials and witnessed by the Indonesian Minister of Health, the Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the United States, and other company officials.

With more than one million TB cases every year, Indonesia has the second highest TB disease burden in the world. Tuberculosis is the main cause of death due to one infectious agent. TB that is resistant to one or both of the first-line drugs usually used in treatment, rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH), remains an important obstacle in efforts to eradicate this disease, because drug-resistant TB patients require different treatment.

"BD Diagnostic Solutions President Nikos Pavlidis said this collaboration is proof of the company's dedication to helping Indonesia improve TB diagnosis, especially multi-drug resistant TB and single drug resistant TB," said Nikos Pavlidis, President, BD Diagnostic Solutions.

"I am encouraged by our collective efforts which are in line with Indonesia's national goal to eradicate TB by 2030," said Nikos, Tuesday (21/11/2023).

The BD MAX™ MDR-TB test allows laboratories and physicians to detect the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and determine whether the bacteria are resistant to multiple drugs or resistant to one drug simultaneously, thereby increasing the information available to direct optimal treatment for their patients.

Bio Farma President Director Shadiq Akasya said that Bio Farma's collaboration with BD adds opportunities and important steps for Bio Farma to deepen its experience, knowledge and expertise in the field of developing diagnostic tools and is part of our commitment to increasing access to TB-related services, from detection to vaccination.

"This collaboration helps us expand our diagnostic tool product portfolio, and we hope to help Indonesia significantly reduce TB cases and eliminate TB by the end of this decade." said Sadiq.

The BD MAX™ system is a molecular diagnostic platform that is used in thousands of laboratories worldwide. The system is fully automated, reducing the chance of human error and increasing the speed of generating results, and can process 24 samples simultaneously, and up to several hundred samples per 24-hour period.

Each unit is capable of testing for respiratory tract infections, enteric pathogens, hospital-acquired infections, and sexually transmitted infections. The BD MAX™ MDR-TB test is included in the 2021 update of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on rapid diagnosis for the detection of tuberculosis.