UNAIR NEWS - Good news came from students of Faculty of Pharmacy (FF) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) who just won an international competition. They are Gerry Yahya Suryanto, Kirana Sekar Laras, Tania Permata Putri, and Alika Sabrina Mahalaksmi. The competition they participated in was the Industrial Skills Event (ISE) organized by the International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF). The announcement of the first winner took place on Saturday (04/05/2024).

“This competition tested pharmacy students' insights into the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists within the pharmaceutical industry. Participants were given a case to be analyzed and required to provide innovative solutions,” said Kirana as the team representative. On this occasion, Kirana and her team competed with more than 30 teams from countries across Asia Pacific.

Beating Competitors from Various Countries
In this competition, each participant gets the same case. Namely, the trend of using GLP-1 RA class drugs for weight management therapy. Each team was required to provide solutions regarding how to market the drug.

“We developed a proposal to propose GLP-1 RA as a therapy for weight management. Our focus is on overweight management in Indonesia, but unfortunately not all GLP-1 RA drugs are approved by BPOM,” Kirana explained. Out of a total of 39 proposals, her team made it into the top 5 and had the right to continue to the presentation stage, which they did online.

Valuable Experience Competing at the International Level
Competing at the international level and having to solve the same problem provided many new insights for Kirana and her team. Basically, the topic of the competition was about drug marketing in different countries with different regulations. “Limited marketing methods due to regulations require us to find strategic marketing methods for our proposed product,” said Kirana.

Through the competition, Kirana and her team gained many new experiences and insights, especially about pharmacy. “Competing globally with pharmacy students across Asia Pacific opened new perspectives for us, especially regarding the intricacies of new drugs in a country,” said Kirana.

Author: Afifah Alfina

Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia

Source : https://unair.ac.id/mahasiswa-farmasi-raih-juara-pertama-kompetisi-internasional-se-asia-pasifik/