WEBINAR Role of Pharmacists in the Success of Covid-19 THERAPY Reaches 1K PARTICIPANTS
A week since publication on social media, the webinar held by the International office of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Padjadjaran University and IAI in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia, the Indonesian Ministry of Health, BPOM, PUI, UNPAD Pharmaceutical Service Innovation, and Pharmacy Magazine has finally been held today (22/07 ).
The webinar takes place via the Zoom and Youtube platforms at exactly 09.00 WIB. The event was opened and brought directly by the Head of the International Office of FFUP, apt. Nasrul Wathoni, Ph.D
“Hopefully our webinar this time can provide benefits for Indonesia,” said Mr. Nasrul during a briefing with Upgraders International Office Unpad.
The event was continued by the moderator who is also the Dean of FFUP, Prof. Dr. Apt. Ajeng Diantini then organized the discussion and discussion sessions thereafter. Below are brief explanations of the speakers in this webinar:
The Role of Pharmacists in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Experiences in Malaysia by Prof. Dr. Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman
Prof. Dr. Syed. Azhar Syed Sulaiman explained the role of Pharmacists during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia. The role of pharmacists is very big in dealing with patients in this pandemic, starting from managing the implementation of antiviral use, counseling health workers and patients, serving drug information, ensuring the right supply of drugs for the community and the country, as a public health educator, sharing information about prevention and handling of COVID. -19. The first case in Malaysia was detected in January 2020 from a traveler from China passing through Singapore. The role of pharmacists during this pandemic is related to new therapies to help patients make treatment decisions, maintain the availability of other drugs during a pandemic and work with other health workers, patients and the community because pharmacists are an important part of pandemic mitigation. One of the roles of pharmacists is as a provider of counseling for other health workers and patients by ensuring the use of drugs and the use of appropriate doses and paying attention to potential drug interactions and other complications that may arise from the therapy used. Pharmacists must work proactively in ensuring the availability of drugs for their communities and countries.
Malaysia implements several restrictions such as the ban on mass gatherings including those for religious events, sports and other social activities. Malaysian citizens returning from abroad are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine. Tourists and foreign nationals are prohibited from entering. Schools and Universities were also closed.
Remdesivir has been tested on patients from Sungai Buloh Hospital to find out its effectiveness. This trial is conducted under WHO and will involve around 100 people. The risk factor according to the Chinese CDC is that the elderly have a higher fatality, men also have a higher fatality. The classification of the severity of COVID-19 is asymptomatic, symptomatic without pneumonia, pneumonia without oxygen demand, pneumonia with oxygen requirements and very severe. Types of drugs that have been tested as a treatment for COVID-19 are Kaletra 2 tab BD, Chloroquine 500mg BD, Hydroxychloroquine 200mg BD, Interferon beta-1b 250 micrograms, Ribavarin, Favipiravir (Avigan) and Remdesivir. To monitor patients, rRT-PCR is performed every 72 hours up to weekly. If it is negative, then the test is again 24 hours. If the result is negative twice, the patient is allowed to go home and carry out independent isolation for 14 days.
Pharmaceutical Interventions for Handling COVID-19 Patients by apt. Dita Novianti Sugandi Argadiredja, S.Si., MM
The Indonesian Ministry of Health’s Pharmaceutical Services continues to make comparisons with what happened to China, Malaysia and other countries to overcome the obstacles that Indonesia faces. This must be adjusted to the conditions that exist in Indonesia because Indonesia is a country with high diversity, so that if the Ministry of Health takes something, the policy must be implemented throughout Indonesian society. The need when COVID 19 spreads is very high, both for drugs, medical devices, PPE, disinfectants, reagents, etc.
In this case, there was a vacuum in the fulfillment of medical devices due to chaos from the community and a lack of knowledge, and imported raw materials for the manufacture of these devices were hampered by the lockdown. It can be seen from the problems that occur that the role of pharmacy in tackling COVID is very large because it is an impetus for the pharmaceutical sector to develop rapidly and innovatively.
The role as a pharmacist is of course that must be fulfilled in medicine, but because the drugs needed must be assessed, the position of the pharmacy service is much more likely. What will be discussed this time is how people can get access to good health during COVID 19. The role of pharmacists in the response to COVID-19 is a management method, starting from the selection, planning, financing, procurement, distribution, use, monitoring and evaluation.
In selecting drugs for COVID 19, Indonesia applies a protocol prepared by professional organizations (PDPI, PAPDI, PERDATIN, IDAI) which refers to the national formulary and pharmaceutical service standards. At this time, the drug used to treat COVID 19 is oseltamivir, but if supplies run out, favipiravir is used. Then added with drugs that are comorbid, depending on the congenital disease suffered by the patient. Actually, these drugs cannot be said to be a therapy for COVID 19 because they are still in the research process, but because of the urgency that exists, some are already using these drugs. And also the government facilitates the use of these drugs even though they do not have a distribution permit. In distributing drugs throughout Indonesia, the Ministry of Health also collaborates with the Ministry of Transportation so that even though there is a PSBB, drug distribution is not hampered.
Then there are several steps that have been and continue to be carried out, namely: Consolidation of needs & funding plans, Revitalization of Support for Pharmaceutical Installations in Provinces and Districts / Cities, Consolidation of Cross Ministries / Institutions, pharmaceutical industry, & international cooperation, Implementation of the Covid- 19. Indonesia also participates in the Solidarity CT for Covid-19 Treatments, which is a multicentre clinical trial involving 23 hospitals (data until 19 May 2020, clinical trials have started in 13 hospitals with 115 patients). In serving the community, Telemedicine is implemented based on circular number HK.02.01 / MENKES / 303/2020, namely Regarding the Implementation of Health Services through the Use of Information and Communication Technology in the Context of Preventing the Spread of CoronaVirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Education to the public must still be provided in the form of infographics and things that can be communicated via the internet. Prescription services, drug information services, counseling and other clinical pharmacy services are provided online. If online services are not possible, manual services are carried out by paying attention to standard precautions (hand hygiene and use of PPE, using mica / glass dividers between officers and patients) and applying physical distancing (adjusting safe distances between patients in the waiting room, reducing the number and time queue).
The Importance of Clinical Trials for Successful Treatment of COVID-19 by Dr. apt. L. Rizka Andalucia, M.Pharm, MARS
There is not a single area that is not affected by the presence of Covid-19, from disruption to economic activities to daily activities. Therefore, researchers are competing to find anticovid-19 or Covid-19 therapeutic drugs. However, there are 1 step that must be taken before you can find the drug, namely a clinical trial to prove that the drug has a response to Covid-19. Several countries get access to new drugs from clinical trials. The discovery of a drug is not only proven through testimony, but there must be structured evidence. If this cannot be proven, then the drug claim cannot be said to be a cure. One of the importance of clinical trials is that, like a drug that was booming for Covid-19 therapy, is Dexamethasone. After going through clinical trials, Dexamethasone used in mild to moderate patients was proven to worsen the condition.
WHO is always updated regarding vaccine candidates. Currently, there are 142 candidates as well as 24 candidates. However, 24 candidates received more attention because they had reached the clinical trial stage. One of the vaccine clinical trials will also be carried out in Unpad with Bio-Farma (Sinovac) which is already in the clinical trial stage 3. The other 2 candidates for the Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial and technology transfer are collaborating with national IFs, namely BCHT (Sinopharm) and Kalbe Farma (Genexine).
Recent Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Therapy in Indonesia by Prof. Dr. apt. Keri Lestari, M.Si
Clinical trials are carried out on pharmacological therapy as well as on compounds that can increase endurance. Maintaining body immunity is one of the principles of the health protocol in GERMAS COVID-19. This has led to herbal clinical trials in Indonesia for immunomodulators.
At the Indonesian National Multicenter Clinical Trial Consortium, clinical trials that are already on the market (have been produced and have distribution permits) are carried out due to time problems and patients who cannot wait. Some that went through clinical trials in the first consortium included convalescent serum, OST-D, ginger tea drinks, lemongrass tea drinks, immunogama herbal medicine, wedang uwuh dip, LOWKOL fermented milk, herbal flu boost, MediTea, Imunocov, guava supplements, clinical trials of remdesivir, anticovid plasma, mesenchymal stem cell, Covid-19 seed vaccine, and Fatigon promuno. In addition, there is potential for Quinine Sulfate compared to chloroquine and hydrochloroquine in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 activity in vitro. This is an advantage for Indonesia because it is a natural ingredient from Indonesia. Then at the IAI Consortium, clinical trials were carried out on Soman2, OB Herbal, VipAlbumin, and TehDia.
In the Second Consortium, there were 19 clinical trials on compounds that also have potential, such as quinine, eucalyptus, stem cells, covalent plasma, therapeutic adjuvants from N-acetylcysteine, theaflavin-3-O-gallate, anti-covid herbs, nanocurcumin, etc. . In addition, there is also an independent clinical trial, namely a clinical trial for Health Tone Oil. Finally, Unpad together with Biopharma conducted a phase three clinical trial for a vaccine with the Sinovac brand from China.
This webinar was held free of charge and collected a total of eight Whatsapp groups from all over Indonesia to gather all participants. Not only that, this webinar also provides free certificates for non-SKP and SKP participants where the SKP certificate will be obtained after working on questions and meeting certain standards).
The discussion and presentation session was closed by Prof. Dr. Apt. Ajeng Diantini, “Hopefully the Pandemic can be finished soon, I hope Covid-19 cure can be found as soon as possible because there is quite a lot of mortality and high transmission. And we are waiting for our role as pharmacists in overcoming this Covid-19, we apologize for all the shortcomings and thank you very much “
