The Institute of Biological Products, Department of Medical Sciences is the only WHO contracted laboratory performing tests on behalf of the WHO vaccine prequalification programme in ASEAN, and it is 1 out of 2 of such laboratories in Asia.
Dr. Sukhum
Kanjanaphimai, the Director-General of the Department of
Medical Sciences said that “The Institute
of Biological Products (IBP) is the Thai
National Control Laboratory (NCL) that
controls the quality of vaccines and other biological products. The
IBP is recognised as a member of WHO contracted laboratory
performing tests on behalf of the WHO vaccine prequalification programme such
as pertussis, rabies, hepatitis B and JE vaccines (live attenuated Chimeric JE vaccine). An
advantage of being the WHO contracted laboratory performing the vaccine quality
testing is that the systems of vaccine quality control in
Thailand are well-known, reliable, and recognised by other countries, and, in addition, the Thai
NCL can control the quality of imported vaccines used for Thai people in
accordance with the international standards. Moreover,
this is a great opportunity for the IBP staff to improve
their skills continuously. If Thailand can manufacture vaccines
or biological products for exporting to other countries, the products will be
recognized by users in other countries. Therefore, the Department
of Medical Sciences has ability to support Thai pharmaceutical industries to
develop vaccines and biological products for
use in Thailand and exporting to
other countries”.
The DG added that “As the IBP lab was assessed by vaccine
quality control experts and then the IBP lab passed the
WHO standards in 2006. As a result, WHO recognized the potential
of the IBP which can perform the tests on vaccines for complying with the international standards and then WHO
sent the vaccine quality control experts to assess the
potential and the readiness of the IBP lab in deep details on several parts
such as analytical procedures, equipment, quality management systems, and
laboratory facilities. Since then, the IBP has met the WHO
requirements and been recognised as a WHO contracted Laboratory performing tests
on behalf of the WHO vaccine prequalification programme. The
IBP is assessed annually by the WHO experts to ensure the
ability to perform vaccines testing. Recently, there are only 12 WHO contracted laboratories performing vaccine quality tests, and the IBP lab is
the only WHO Contracted Laboratory performing vaccine
quality tests in ASEAN, and 1 out of 2 of such laboratories in Asia. Being selected as a WHO contracted laboratory performing
vaccine quality testing can prove the potential of the Department
of Medical Sciences on vaccine quality control to other
countries. We previously provided training courses in the vaccine quality control laboratory for government officials
from many other countries such as China, Iran, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. In addition, we also
provided the vaccine quality control courses in other countries like Myanmar, Malaysia,
Iran, Vietnam, and the Philippines. What is more, the IBP staff are invited to be the members of the committees to review WHO guidelines and participate in workshops on vaccines
and biological products. Therefore, the Thai NCL is a
member of vaccine quality control networks in the country and other countries”.
