Creating Hepatitis B Medication, UAD Students Become the Winner of National LKTIM

Three students from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) won the first place in the Student Scientific Writing Competition (LKTIM) with a theme of "Chemistry in Festival" at Universitas Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on November 22−25, 2018. The three students were Desty Restia Rahmawati, Diar Winanti, and Riska Nurkhasanah who managed to innovate Hepatitis B drugs from noni fruit and meniran herbal plant.

Desty, the team leader explained that noni fruit contains scolopetin compounds which are very effective as anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic elements. Meanwhile, the roots and leaves of meniran are rich in flavonoids which are very high anti-bacterial elements. And then, with a touch of nanotechnology, the particles are made smaller that can deliver drugs to sick cells. In addition, this drug does not damage healthy cells.

The team prepares for competition by looking for materials in journals and several other references about noni fruit and meniran herbal plant. The proposal was prepared to combine the two ingredients for Hepatitis B therapy. In addition, Desty and the team improved the capacity percentage and made a prototype.

The proposal submitted was titled "Moraphy: Prospect of Combination of Noni (Morinda citrifolia) and Meniran (Phyllanthus niruri) with Nanoencapsulation Formula Based on Chitosan and Pectin as Targeted Drug Delivery System Strategic Innovation for Promising Hepatitis B Therapy".

"At the selection stage, there were a total of 86 teams who submitted proposals. Each team consists of three students from 30 universities throughout Indonesia," explained Desty at UAD Campus 1 on Friday (11-30-2018) while accompanied by Danang Sukantar, M.Pd., the Head of Student Affairs Management and Development Division of Bimawa and Dr. Hari Susanti, M.Si., Apt., the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy of UAD. The team was under the guidance of Siti Fatmawati Fatimah, M.Sc., Apt.

In the final stage, there were 15 proposals from 11 universities that were selected. For this innovative work, the UAD team managed to exceed the team from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) who placed second and Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret (UNS) as the third winner. Meanwhile, Institut Teknologi Surabaya (ITS) placed first for the appreciation award, while UNS placed second.

Hari Susanti said that the Faculty of Pharmacy and the university would provide further research facilities for students to develop their talents and potential, even until pre-clinical and clinical testing was carried out and for it to be patented. (ard)