Part of the investment (€1.4m) went to upgrading the company’s production site located at the Bayer Supply Center Consumer Health Cimanggis, Depok. The upgrades include introducing digitalization and automation to optimize production output by around 20%.
While the site produces a range of supplement products, including those from Redoxon and Berocca, the upgrades focused on the production line for Multiple Micronutrient Supplement (MMS), designed to meet the needs of pregnant women.
The upgraded production facility can produce up to 1.2 billion MMS tablets annually, for both bottle and blister packaging. In total, the Cimanggis site can deliver an annual capacity of 3.6 billion tablets, serving both domestic and international markets across nutrition, OTC and MMS categories.
The Cimanggis site, which has been around since the 1970s, was acquired by Bayer when it bought over Roche Consumer Health in 2005.
The remaining investment (€$3.6m) was used to enhance the Bayer Global R&D Center, also located at Cimanggis.
Bayer held an inauguration ceremony of the upgraded factory on Jan. 14, which was attended by government officials, including the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Budi Gunadi Sadikin; the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor-Leste, Dr. Ralf Beste; and representatives of the Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM).
The MMS and Road to Billion strategy
The MMS, which will launch under Bayer’s Elevit brand, is formulated according to the United Nations International Multiple Micronutrient Antenatal Preparation (UNIMMAP) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It contains 15 essential vitamins and minerals for pregnant women.
Speaking to NutraIngredients, Priscilla Silvan Prarizta, head of Bayer Supply Center Consumer Health Cimanggis, said that the MMS produced would target consumers from high birth rate markets and nutrient-deficient populations.
“We are starting the project in Indonesia, with the main reason being that Indonesia is one of the markets where stunting is prevalent,” she said. “Looking at the population, it is a big opportunity for us to create a big impact in Indonesia. This is also aligned with the government’s Indonesia Emas 2045 goal.”
“The government is focusing on how to prevent stunting, and the Ministry of Health is implementing a lot of activities and one of them is related to pregnancy. Therefore, the MMS project is aligned with the government’s initiatives.”
Indonesia’s Emas 2045, or Golden Indonesia 2045, comprises a series of long-term development plans and goals, including reducing poverty and inequality and achieving per capita income equivalent to that of developed countries.
Combating micronutrient deficiency and stunting in children is one of the key activities.
Based on the 2024 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI), the national prevalence of stunting was 19.8%, down from 27.7% in 2019.
Bali had the lowest rate of stunting at 8.6%, followed by East Java at 14.7% and the Riau Islands at 15%. Stunting was the most prevalent in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) at 37%, as well as in West Sulawesi at 35.4% and Southwest Papua at 30.5%.
Some of the government’s efforts in reducing the prevalence of stunting include its Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Support Program, introduced in West Java last year. The province had a stunting rate of 15.9%, based on the 2024 survey.
“Strengthening domestic MMS production and R&D capabilities is a strategic step to ensure the availability of quality health products and to support national priorities, including maternal and child health,” said Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia’s Minister of Health. “We highly appreciate Bayer Indonesia’s commitment to localizing the manufacturing of MMS.”
While the site will supply MMS to the Indonesian market in its initial phase, it will subsequently supply to other parts of Asia, including India, as well as to Pakistan, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, as part of Bayer’s “Road to Billions” strategy.
“The mission itself is no longer just about the business, but also contributing back to the community,” Prarizta said.
Commercialization of the product is expected to take place this year once the product is registered with regulators of the respective countries where it will be launched.
R&D investment
Aside from MMS production, the investments will also go into R&D efforts, including product quality enhancement, formulation development, optimization, as well as analytical methods and stability studies.
For example, some of the formulation work will explore the combination of traditional herbs with vitamins and minerals. Another example is to design smaller product pack sizes that are more affordable for the Indonesian market.
“The strengthening of R&D capabilities at the Bayer Consumer Health Cimanggis facility, through an investment of €3.6 million, is aimed at ensuring that products remain safe, effective and stable under diverse climatic conditions, while being fully integrated into Bayer’s global R&D network,” said Jerry Meisel, vice president of global technical excellence and R&D operations at Bayer. “The R&D role in Indonesia is designed to support domestic market needs and to reinforce the global supply chain.”
Bayer Global R&D Center was established in Indonesia in 2024. It focuses on the production of nutritional products in solid formats, such as tablets.
The center is also responsible for running stability tests for Bayer’s products produced around the world.
“Indonesia is situated in climatic zone four based on guidelines from the International Council for Harmonisation,” Prarizta said. “If the samples sent here can withstand high humidity and high temperature, they will be able to remain stable for the other markets.”
