Jakarta, March 11, 2026 – PT Kalbe Farma Tbk (Kalbe) hands out donation in the form of 65,000 INDIGEN PCR-Reagent Tests for Tuberculosis to the Ministry of Health of The Republic of Indonesia. This donation highlights a real support from Kalbe for the acceleration program to eliminate tuberculosis in Indonesia. The government has set a target to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030 through early detection and proper treatment. Kalbe is also committed to contribute in achieving this goal through accurate and fast diagnostics innovations.
Indonesia is a country that is highly burdened by tuberculosis when it comes to the global statistics – it is ranked second only after India. According to the data of the 2024’s Global TBC Report, there is an estimate of 382 cases of TBC per 100,000 Indonesians, which would make the total case number reaching 1.08 million of cases. Every year, there are 118,000 cases of death due to TBC, which means there are 14 deaths per hour. Therefore, early detection is vital to prevent its spread and accelerate its treatment. Elimination efforts need to be taken through the expansion of access to active screenings and the improvement of PCR (Polymerase chain reaction)-based treatments. PCR-based treatments are more accurate and could detect cases earlier. With the proper checks, the success of therapies could significantly improve.
“The donation in the form of INDIGEN’s 65,000 PCR-Reagent Tests for TBC is Kalbe’s commitment in supporting for the acceleration of eliminating tuberculosis in Indonesia. We believe that accurate early detection is the key to limit spread and improving the success of therapies. With dependable sensitivity and specificity levels and the ability to detect four target genes at once, INDIGEN helps clinicians determine the right, proper treatment since the beginning. This product is an innovation of our people – it contains more than 40 percent of TKDN, which supports the independence of our national health. This fits our official events’ tagline: pemeriksaan tepat (the right screening), obat tepat (the proper meds), pasti sehat (health is a sure thing),” says the Director of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, Mulialie.
Kalbe believes that the collaboration among industries and the government would be an important factor in ensuring the success of national health programs. Through their donation, Kalbe aims to strengthen synergies to improve access to quality diagnostics services. The utilization of readily-available PCR machines at various laboratories would accelerate the implementation of screenings, therefore it will optimize health assets that the country has already owned. With a shared support, the target to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030 will become more realistic.
“Not only does this donation speak about the number of tests – it also speaks about the impact that these tests bring for the people. Kalbe is committed to continue to bring health solutions that could give real impacts for Indonesia. We will keep living this commitment as a part of Kalbe’s social responsibility. We hope that there will be more cases of tuberculosis that could be detected early and given the right treatment,” Mulialie says.
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia welcomes Kalbe’s contribution in supporting the tuberculosis elimination program. The government keeps encouraging the increase of testing capacity and the improvement of expansion for active screenings in various regions. The support from the health sector industry could help in accelerating the achievement of national targets. PCR-based molecular screening has become one of the main strategies to find cases timely and accurately. With better detection, treatments could be given earlier and properly.
The acceleration of TBC elimination is tightly related to the improvement of TBC cases’s noting and reporting with the active case finding method. Indigen’s TBC-PCR products, that have been integrated into SITB (Sistem Informasi Tuberkulosis – Tuberculosis Information System), will make reporting easier and ensure that the data of cases could be managed accurately and on a real-time basis by the government.
The donation of INDIGEN’s TB-PCR Reagent Tests is hoped to be able to improve access to PCR-based tuberculosis screenings in various regions. The donation also strengthens the capacity of national laboratories in performing molecular tests. The readily-available PCR machine infrastructures post the COVID-19 pandemic could be re-utilized optimally.
INDIGEN’s TB-PCR Reagent Tests are developed and produced in Indonesia by PT KalGen DNA, a subsidiary of Kalbe in the field of molecular diagnostics. The product runs by a more-than-40 percent tingkat komponen dalam negeri (TKDN – Domestic Component Level). This supports the independence of the national health industry and the government’s policies in utilizing local products. This innovation also highlights the abilities of the nation’s children in developing competitive health technologies. With it being produced domestically, its distribution and implementation could be faster and more widespread.
INDIGEN’s TB-PCR is superior due to its ability to detect four targets at once: mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria, resistance to rifampicin, and resistence to isoniazid. Due to this, clinicians could decide upon the best therapies at an early stage. The product has a sensitivity level of 94.12 percent and a specificity level of 98.36 percent based on more than 700 samples from Indonesia’s population. The Ministry of Health’s evaluation also results in very good clinical effects.