Thursday, April 23, 2009

Announcement to Shareholders Regarding the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company

We hereby annouce to the Shareholders of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) that the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company (the “Meeting”) will be convened on Thursday, May 14th 2009.

In compliance with the provisions of Article 21 paragraph (2) of the Company’s Articles of Association, an invitation of the Meeting will be advertised in 2 (two) Indonesian daily newspapers, 1 (one) which has a nationwide circulation and 1 (one) which is circulated at the domicile of the Company on April 29th 2009.


Those who reserve the right to attend or be presented in the Meeting are:



  1. The Company’s Shareholders whose names are registered in the Register of Shareholders of the Company on April 28th 2009 not later than 4.00 pm Western Indonesia Time,

  2. For shares in the Collective Custody, only the account holders or their proxies whose names are registered in the account holders or custodian bank at PT Kustodian Sentral Efek Indonesia (“KSEI”) on April 28th 2009 not later than 4.00 pm Western Indonesia Time; and

  3. Holders of KSEI’s securities account in the Collective Custody shall provide List of Shareholders they manage to KSEI to obtain a Written Confirmation For the Meeting (“KTUR”).
    Please be advised that proposals from Shareholders for inclusion in the agendas of the Meeting must be submitted pursuant to the provisions of Article 21 paragraph (6) of the Company’s Articles of Association and received by the Board of Directors at least 7 (seven) days before April 29th 2009.

Jakarta, April 14th 2009


The Board of Directors

BAHASA

Friday, April 03, 2009

TheraCIM drawn attention at Asian Oncology Summit

The inaugural Asian Oncology Summit (AOS) – 2009 was held at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore. AOS major success is to have a partnership with South East Asian Medical Oncology Forum (SEAMOF) to encourage collaboration among oncologists in Southeast Asia. The Summit encompassed a series of plenary lectures covering a variety of haematological and solid cancers. There were additional six parallel suites dedicated to haemato-oncology, head and neck, gastrointestinal, breast, lung, and gynaecological cancer. The summit described the latest clinical needs for oncologists in Asia and offered an opportunity for the exchange ideas and thoughts that will help inform clinical practice. Notable international experts includes Prof Harald zur Hausen (Nobel Laureate) had discussed topics of pertinent clinical relevance.


During AOS, experts in oncology shared their experience how to combat cancer incidences and treatment strategy in various cancer types. It was estimated that 58.8 million people died globally from cancer in 2004 (WHO 2008). In South East Asia, it is estimated that in 2008 there were 1,589,000 incident cases of cancer (758,000 in men and 831,000 in women) and 1,072,000 deaths from cancer (approx 557,000 in men and 515,000 in women). In men, the commonest cancer was lung cancer, followed by oral cancer and in women, cervix and breast cancer were the commonest incident.


A panel of speakers had delivered speech on currently available targeted therapy in combination of conventional treatment, and stratified drug therapy with respect to cancer genetics. Targeted therapy has been encouraging the oncologists in the treatment of haematological and solid tumors. Small molecules (tyrosine kinase inhibitors; TKIs) as well as biologics (monoclonal antibodies; mAb) have been evaluated in different tumors in combination with chemotherapy (CT) and/or radiotherapy (RT). TKIs (gefitinib, imatinib, sorafinib, sunitinib) and mAb (cetuximab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, nimotuzumab) described therapeutic efficacy in binding to their respective targets and hence improved in response rate to the treatment. Some of the clinical trials with targeted therapy have shown an increase in progression-free survival (PFS) as well as overall survival (OS) rate in cancers such as breast, head and neck etc. However, some of the anti-EGFR agents have been associated with severe toxicity in cancer patients.


During the recent summit, nimotuzumab (TheraCIM) had drawn attention by the oncologists and scientists from different parts of the world for its “affinity-optimizedTM” properties towards EGF receptor. Dr Rikrik Ilyas, director, Innogene-Kalbiotech, Singapore had described the development and therapeutic efficacy of nimotuzumab in treating tumors with high EGFR expression. Nimotuzumab is a humanised monoclonal anti-EGFR antibody with reduced toxicity and immunogenicity, and has been approved for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), SCCHN and glioma. The combination of nimotuzumab and RT has significantly increased overall response rate in patients with NPC and other advanced stage head and neck cancers.

During a satellite symposium organised at AOS by Innogene-Kalbiotech, Prof Mark Vincent from University of Western Ontario, Canada explained that “nimotuzumab efficacy in the treatment of EGFR over-expressed tumors is similar to other anti-EGFR agents, cetuximab and panitumumab. Regarding toxicity, nimotuzumab discriminates cells with respect to EGFR expression by binding preferentially to tumor cells over-expressing EGFR, whereas cetuximab and panitumumab bind to all tissues expressing EGFR. The attachment of nimotuzumab to EGFR required bivalent binding, which occurs more readily when EGFR density is elevated. In contrast, when EGFR density is low, such as in healthy tissue, cetuximab and panitumumab continued to interact strongly with EGFR through monovalent binding, while nimotuzumab monovalent binding was transient thus sparing healthy tissues and avoiding the associated severe toxicities. An “affinity-optimizedTM” property of nimotuzumab has shown superior safety profile while exhibiting similar therapeutic efficacy compared to other anti-EGFR mAbs. Severe hypomagnesemia and skin rash is common with the treatment of cetuximab and panitumamab. High rate of severe radiation dermatitis during radiation therapy with concurrent cetuximab in head and neck cancer has been reported”.


A positive relation between the presence and severity of treatment-related rash and survival has been consistently observed with all ant-EGFR agents approved for clinical use. These findings suggest that rash may be a useful surrogate marker of successful EGFR inhibition and clinical benefit and therefore of possible use in identifying patients most likely to benefit from therapy, as well as to guide dose adjustments. However, absence of skin rash with the treatment of nimotuzumab makes it a unique therapeutic agent among the class of anti-EGFR mAb.

In a statement given by Prof Randolph HJ, UCLA “the rash is not only unsightly but is painful and can lead to serious infections. I have had patients require urgent surgical drainage of abscesses related to EGFR rashes. EGFR inhibitor with anticancer activity, but without skin toxicity, would be a great advance for patients”

Nimotuzumab has therefore emerged as a promising therapeutic option for patients with advanced epithelial tumours.


The second Asian Oncology Summit being planned to host at Bali, Indonesia (April 9-11, 2010).

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, grows 12,5% in 2008

Based on Audited Consolidated Financial Statements for the Year Ended on December 31, 2008, PT Kalbe Farma Tbk. and subsidiaries (“The Company”) has achieved net sales of Rp 7.9 Trillion, 12.5% higher compared to Rp 7.0 Trillion in 2007.

The Company’s gross profit reached Rp 3.8 Trillion in 2008, an increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year figure. Due to increase of raw material prices and depreciation of Rupiah against USD, the Company’s gross profit margin has declined to 48.3% from the the previous year figure of 50.7%.

The Company’s operating expenses in 2008 was Rp 2.7 Trillion, or 9.9% higher than the previous year. The largest component of operating expenses was selling expenses of Rp 2.1 Trillion, followed by general and administration expenses of Rp 453 Billion and research and development expenses of Rp 54 Billion. Operating expenses ratio to net sales decreased 0.8% to 33.8% in 2008 compared to 34.6% in 2007.

In 2008, the Company was able to maintain its net income amounting to Rp 707 Billion, an increase of 0.2% compared to Rp 706 Billion in 2007.

The details of each Division performance are as follows:

* Prescription Pharmaceuticals Division, as the main business division of the Company, contributed 27.1% of the total net sales. In 2008, the division reported net sales of Rp 2,131 Billion, 18.0% higher than the previous year.
* Consumer Health Division net sales contributed 20,9% of the total net sales. The division reported net sales of Rp 1,648 Billion. As sales of Energy Drink has not yet recovered in 2008, this division net sales has been down by 11.2% compared to that of previous year.
* Nutritionals Division, the Company’s fastest growing division, contributed 24.5% of the total net sales. This division has successfully achieved its net sales of Rp 1,927 Billion or grew 20.5% compared to Rp 1,600 Billion in 2007.
* Distribution and Packaging Division also made significant contribution to total net sales at 27.5%. This division successfully reported net sales of Rp 2,170 Billion with the highest sales growth of 24.5% in 2008 compared to the previous year.

At the end of 2008, the Company increased its net income per share to Rp 72, grew 2.9% compared to Rp 70 in 2007.

This information will be available on the Company’s website at www.kalbe.co.id or for further information please contact:

Vidjongtius / Corporate Secretary
PT Kalbe Farma Tbk.
Gedung KALBE
Jl. Let. Jend. Suprapto Kav. 4
Cempaka Putih – Jakarta
Phone: (021) 428-73688
Fax : (021) 428-73678
Email : vidjongtius@kalbe.co.id


BAHASA