Biologicals

WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization: Fifty-seventh report and Fifty-eighth report

Available now: TRS 962 and TRS 963

To download, please click on the url below:


Vaccine vials (IVB)

WHO Regulatory Standards for Vaccines and Biologicals

Established in 1947, the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS) has overall responsibility for this area of work.

Standards developed through the ECBS relate to the production and quality control of safe and effective products. They provide guidance for national regulatory authorities and manufacturers and serve as the standard for acceptability of vaccines for supply to countries through international agencies (terms prequalification). Biological standards are also established by the Committee and provide the basis for the laboratory comparison of vaccines worldwide.

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Future Focus

For the foreseeable future, the emphasis for work in this area will be on the development of standards for new vaccines and novel vaccine combinations and of strategies to promote, facilitate and monitor the use of WHO standards.

As expectations for faster product development of vaccines grow, the ECBS will need to develop guidelines at an earlier stage of the production cycle.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WHO Collaborating Centers on Standardization on Regulatory Evaluation of Vaccines & Biotherapeutic Products: 1st meeting, Geneva, 24-26 April 2012

WHO Workshop on implementing WHO Guidelines on evaluating similar biotherapeutic products (SBPs), Xiamen, China, 28-30 May 2012

WHO Informal Consultation on the revision of the recommendations to assure the Quality, Safety and Efficacy of biological products prepared by recombinant DNA technology, Xiamen, China, 31 May-1 June 2012

CONTACTS

Quality, Safety and Standards (QSS)
Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB)
World Health Organization (WHO)
Avenue Appia 20
1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Fax No. +41 22 7914971