Collaborative study for the establishment of replacement batches for human coagulation factor IX concentrate reference standards.

The European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) Biological Reference Preparation (BRP) batch 1, the World Health Organisation (WHO) 3rd International Standard, Human (IS, 96/854) and the FDA Standard for human blood coagulation Factor IX concentrate have been available since 1996, following their establishment by a common collaborative study. Due to dwindling stocks of all three standards, a new WHO-EDQM-FDA tri-partite collaborative study was launched to establish replacement batches. Thirty laboratories from fourteen countries took part in the collaborative study to assign potency values to candidate preparations. Three candidates, one of recombinant and two of human plasma-derived origins, were assayed against the 3rd IS for Blood Coagulation Factor IX, Concentrate, Human (96/854). The 3rd IS for Blood Coagulation Factors II, VII, IX and X, Plasma, Human (99/826) was also included to evaluate the relationship between the factor IX plasma and concentrate unitage. Thirty-two sets of clotting assay results and two sets of chromogenic assay data were analysed. There was a significant difference in potency estimates by these two methods for the recombinant candidate (sample B) and the plasma IS (sample P). Similar potency values were obtained for the plasma derived products (monoclonal antibody- and chromatography-purified factor IX, samples C and D) by clotting and chromogenic assays. For the clotting assays, intra-laboratory variability (GCV) was found to range from 0.5 - 21.7%, with the GCV for the majority of laboratories being less than 10%. Good inter-laboratory agreement, with the majority of the GCV being less than 10% (GCV range = 4.7 - 10.6 %) was also obtained. The mean potency values estimated by the clotting assay using plasma as pre-diluent (as directed by the Ph. Eur. general chapter method) did not differ from values obtained using buffer. Taking into account the preliminary stability data, the intra- and inter-laboratory variability, and the differences between the clotting and chromogenic assay results, sample C (07/182) was established as the Human coagulation factor IX concentrate BRP batch 2, with a potency value of 7.9 IU/ampoule assigned with clotting assay results. As an outcome of this tri-partite collaborative study, the same sample C (07/182) has also been adopted as the 4th International Standard for Blood Coagulation Factor IX, Concentrate, Human by the Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation (ECBS) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and as the replacement batch for the reference standard for Human coagulation factor IX concentrate by the FDA.