India and Indonesia strengthen pharma ties at DISSO ASIA 2025 in Jakarta

The Society for Pharmaceutical Dissolution Science (SPDS) recently unveiled the commencement of its regional outreach with Disso Asia 2025, a two-day international symposium held in Jakarta. The event, centred on the theme “Dissolution Science and Quality Drug Development”, marked SPDS’s first step in engaging with other Asian countries through scientific exchange and collaboration.

The symposium was organised in collaboration with the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM RI), the Embassy of India in Jakarta, and industry bodies including HISFARIN and the QA QC Members Group of Indonesia. Academic partners included the Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), University of Gadjah Mada, and Airlangga University.

The inauguration ceremony was led by His Excellency Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia, and Professor Dr Taruna Ikrar, Chairperson of BPOM RI.

In his inaugural address, Dr Taruna Ikrar outlined Indonesia’s goal of reducing its pharmaceutical import dependency from 96 per cent to below 50 per cent. “Indonesia looks forward for support from India to strengthen their inhouse manufacturing and also address reduction in cost of pharmaceuticals,” he stated. He also invited Indian pharmaceutical companies to establish manufacturing units in Indonesia and assured regulatory support from BPOM to fast-track permissions and approvals.

Dr Rajeev Raghuvanshi, Drugs Controller General of India, delivered the keynote address. Through a series of case studies, he contextualised the importance of the symposium and reaffirmed India’s readiness to collaborate with Indonesia in the pharmaceutical sector.

Responding to Dr Ikrar’s invitation, Indian Ambassador Shri Sandeep Chakravorty said, “India would be happy to support and expand the collaboration of the two countries in development of Pharmaceuticals.” He also extended an invitation to the Indonesian FDA team to visit India and explore further avenues of cooperation, noting that “the Indian experience would benefit Indonesia immensely.”

Dr L. Ramaswamy, Secretary General of SPDS, emphasised the value of the collaboration and expressed SPDS’s interest in establishing an Indonesia chapter to continue knowledge exchange on dissolution science and allied domains. Professor Padma V. Devarajan, President of SPDS, spoke about SPDS’s various initiatives and encouraged academic and industry participation in its future programmes.

The symposium featured presentations from global experts on key topics including Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS), biowaivers, Quality by Design (QbD), dissolution methodologies, formulation development, and regulatory perspectives. A plenary address was delivered by Dr Vinod P Shah, former US FDA scientist and Scientific Chair of Disso Asia 2025.

Other speakers included Dr Heni Rachmawati (ITB Bandung), Dr Matthias Wacker (National University of Singapore), Sandeep Kulakarni (Image Provision Inc.), Dr Padma Devarajan (SPDS), Vijay Kshirsagar (Track Consulting), Professor Akhmad Kharis (University Gadjah Mada), Dra Susan Gracia Arpan (BPOM RI), Professor James Poli (University of Maryland), Dr Sandip Tiwari (BASF), Dr Alexandre Hardy (Sotax Pharma Services, France), Dr Roderick (Eric) Salenga (WHO Indonesia), and Dr Patrick Sinko (Rutgers University, USA).

The event also featured a poster session with student researchers from multiple countries and an exhibition showcasing advancements in dissolution and pharmaceutical quality technologies. More than 250 delegates from industry, academia, and regulatory agencies attended the symposium.

DISSO ASIA 2025 concluded with support from several partner companies and exhibitors, including Sotax AG, ACG Associated Capsules, Borosil Scientific, Image Provision, MicroTracers, PT Gaia Science, PT Sartotech, JVR Jayata Consulting, Toraja Melo, and Ahana.

SPDS extended an invitation to Indonesian delegates for Disso India 2025, scheduled to be held on 21–22 November 2025 in Mumbai.

Overall DISSO ASIA in Indonesia marks the beginning of a new journey between two countries in collaboration and co-operation in the field of pharma and health care.