Duke-NUS Medical School and the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (Indonesian FDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate new collaborations to strengthen Indonesia’s regulatory systems and promote policy innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.

The MoU, which was signed through the Duke-NUS Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE), focuses on skills development and capacity enhancement, aiming to foster the development of medicines, biological products, traditional medicines, health supplements, and cosmetics in Indonesia.

As an active and trusted partner for health products regulation in the region, CoRE has worked together with the Indonesian FDA on regional regulatory projects, roundtables, seminars and various educational programmes since 2015.

Most recently in January 2024, both institutions participated in a vaccine stakeholder engagement meeting in Jakarta to discuss the regulation of vaccine manufacturing as part of the Asian Development Bank’s Vaccine Regulation Project during the launch of the Indonesia Vaccine Collaborating Centre initiative.

Dr Lucia Rizka Andalucia, Acting Chairperson of the Indonesian FDA said, "The signing of this MoU with Duke-NUS CoRE marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance human resource capabilities in the pharmaceutical field. This collaboration will bolster our efforts to ensure the highest standards of public health and safety and will facilitate innovative health solutions across nations."

Professor John Lim, Executive Director of CoRE at Duke-NUS said, “We look forward to working together on projects that strengthen the regulatory system, and providing ongoing support for Indonesia’s health products regulatory capacity and professional development. This is aligned with CoRE’s commitment to expand our regional collaborative network and play an effective coordinating role by contributing as an active partner in regional capacity building and systems strengthening initiatives.”