Biozek is made in China
Chief Executive Officer Inzek International Trading BV Zeki Hamid:
BIOZEK rapid test kits, which were imported by Kimia Farma, began circulating in Indonesia in mid-April. The state-owned company purchased 300,000 units of these rapid test kits from the Dutch company, Inzek International Trading BV. Recently, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an investigative media in collaboration with Tempo, discovered that Biozek rapid test kits are not manufactured by Inzek but rather by Hangzhou AllTest Biotech Co Ltd.
Furthermore, a number of studies point to the inaccuracy of Biozek rapid test kits. In March-April, Inzek International Trading BV CEO Zeki Hamid gave his explanation in regard to Biozek’s manufacturing process and accuracy via phone calls and emails.
A number of studies have found the Biozek rapid test kits to be unreliable in detecting the coronavirus.
If people take the test themselves, they are not reliable enough. Our test is for professional use only. Not for consumers.
Based on these studies, it’s possible that the fault lies with the Biozek test kits.
What I understand from Academic Medical Center (AMC) Amsterdam and other laboratories is that my product is more than 90 percent good. (According to OCCRP, AMC Amsterdam has not yet confirmed Biozek’s accuracy level.)
Biozek is believed to not be manufactured in the Netherlands, but rather in China. How do you respond to this?
That test is made by our partner in China. And we understand they had blood from 70 (Covid-19) patients in Wuhan and they told us what they did with it. Two laboratories in the Netherlands have tested the test.
According to your website, Biozek rapid test kits are manufactured in the Netherlands.
Maybe there is one wrong word. Maybe we should correct that. I am going to check that out. That needs to be improved.
How did you come to partner with AllTest?
The party in China is a really professional manufacturer and they have official certificates. We trust them one hundred percent. We have been working with them for about five years now, but normally we want to recheck the test again. (In an official release issued April 9, AllTest said differences in test results may be influenced by antibodies present in the body. They also said AllTest’s products can only be used by professionals.)
Why aren’t you manufacturing the product in the Netherlands?
We can produce in the Netherlands, but we do not do this for Covid-19. People cannot work in a lab now because of the corona measures. It is important to ensure that the entire production, the complete plan, takes place in the Netherlands in the future.
What countries are using Biozek?
We have produced almost 3 million (rapid test kits) but could deliver only 2 million of them. At the moment our biggest customers are from Russia, Indonesia, Netherlands, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Your products are being sold at unreasonable prices, many times higher than the manufacturing cost.
We’re not in this to make money, but to help people. I tell our customers to sell for just 10 percent extra, more is not necessary. When people sell our product for 10, 15, or 20 euros we are not very happy. (OCCRP’s investigation found that Biozek’s purchase price is only €5, or around Rp80,000.)
Why did you choose the Dutch company, Mach-E, as the exclusive distributor for Indonesia?
We expect big business with them. Mach-E also asked if they could distribute (our products) in other countries, but there is no order confirmation yet. The government asked me to set up a production line in Indonesia, but we will look at that again in two or three months.