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The article reports on the issues discussed during the conference of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee in Geneva, Switzerland. Among the changes that took place are the recommendations of standards for quality, supply of reference materials, development of laboratory support for biological standardization and placing standards on vaccines. The committee was also made known of new initiatives within WHO on area of blood products and related biologicals for 2004-2005.

The article reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Biological Standardization has been informed about the informal WHO Consultation which was held in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2003. The purpose of the event was to assess the proposed draft revision of the Guidelines for the preparation, characterization and creation of international and other standards and reference reagents for biological substances. Several issues had been tackled during the meeting including the selection of units to be designated to a specific reference preparation.

The article reports on the review of the draft of World Health Organization (WHO) Recommendations for the production and control of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines by WHO Expert Committee during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The recommendations which are based on the result of an informal WHO Consultation in 2003, are designed to be scientific and in the form of advisory to serve as guide for national regulatory authorities and vaccine manufacturers. The committee adopted the revised draft after making several modifications.

The article reports on the cases of contamination of oral poliomyelitis vaccine which had been found from November 2002 to February 2003 in one country after vaccination. These cases were made known to the World Health Organization Expert Committee during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The investigation of the case indicated that MEF-1 in vials was present in one of the vaccine batches that had been filled from imported bulk material locally.

The article highlights the conference of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Biological Standardization from November 17-21, 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland. It was opened by physician Vladimir Lepakhin, assistant director-general on Health Technology and Pharmaceuticals of WHO, on behalf of the director-general, who gave an emphasis of the significance to Members States the responsibilities of the committee in creating recommendations that will be helpful in the development of biological products and establishment and distribution of reference materials for biologicals.

The article presents the proposals for discontinuation of international regulations and guidelines for yellow fever vaccines, which was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The procedure for the approval by WHO pertaining to the issue of international vaccination had been replaced by the procedure created for the pre-qualification of vaccines for supply.

The article provides information about the draft report of issues discussed at the meeting held by the World Health Organization (WHO) Gene Transfer Monitoring Group in June 2003, presented to WHO Expert Committee during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting tackled issues on gene therapy trials, activities of the WHO Working Group on Standardization and Control of Nucleic Acid Vaccines and standardization of gene transfer medical products. The committee endorsed and noted the proposals for further developments.

The article reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee was informed that an informal WHO Consultation concerning the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in relation to biological and pharmaceutical products was conducted on February 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland. The consultation was intended to give the regulatory authorities an evidence-based information about the risk evaluation and precautionary and control measures for the products mentioned and to promote regulations on TSE.

The article reports on the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements for the collection, processing and control of material for transplantation, presented at the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The increasing number cases of transplantation of organs, tissues and cells were made known to the WHO Expert Committee during the meeting. It was suggested that the organization will formulate standards for technical, ethical and quality in transplantation, which will should deal with safety and efficacy, good manufacturing practice and quality management systems.

The article reports on the results of the meeting of World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on standardization and control of pertussis vaccines, which was made informed to WHO Expert Committee at the convention held in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting of the Working Group was conducted to recommend WHO on modifying the guidelines for the accellular pertussis vaccines. Previous meetings of the group had also come up with intranasal challenge assays and modified intracerebral challenge assays.

The article reports on the draft of World Health Organization (WHO) concerning the use of animal cells as in vitro substrates for the production of biologicals, presented during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The draft offers the knowledge about the WHO cell bank of Vero cells, which in 1987 was developed and in 1998 was named as a Master Central Bank. An amendment was proposed after WHO Expert Committee was made known of the potential deficiencies in the records for the creation of the bank and subsequently adopted after modifications have been made.

The article reports on the review of the draft World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for the production and control of influenza vaccine by WHO Expert Committee during the convention in Geneva, Switzerland. The result of the informal WHO Consultation in France was made as a basis for the draft. It is made to offer information and guide vaccine manufacturers on its production and for recommendations for national regulatory authorities. The draft was adopted by the committee after making several modifications.