KARACHI, October 28, 2026: Pakistan is close to signing an agreement with Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma to begin manufacturing three vaccines locally, Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has announced.
The proposed arrangement would involve technology transfer from Indonesian pharmaceutical partners, allowing Pakistan to establish domestic production capacity for vaccines currently obtained from abroad.
Kamal said an Indonesian delegation had recently visited Pakistan and completed inspections related to the planned manufacturing facilities.
Pakistan currently imports 13 vaccines from Bio Farma. Under the proposed agreement, local production would initially cover three of them, although the minister did not identify the vaccines or announce a signing date.
The initiative follows government efforts to strengthen domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing and reduce dependence on imported medical supplies.
In June, the Health Ministry directed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the National Institute of Health to accelerate technical and regulatory work required to finalise vaccine-production cooperation with Indonesia.
Kamal also said Pakistan had signed agreements worth $400 million with international pharmaceutical companies for local manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, the raw materials used in medicine production.
Domestic vaccine manufacturing would give Pakistan greater control over its immunisation supply chain as the country prepares to finance a larger share of its vaccination programme in the coming years.