50th report: WHO TRS N°904: 1999

Overview

The WHO Expert Committee on Biological standardization met in Geneva from 25 to 29 October 1999. Dr M Scholtz, Executive Director of the Health Technology and Pharmaceuticals cluster at WHO, opened the meeting on ebhalf of the Director- General. 

Dr. Scholtz explained that WHO was emerging from a period of considerable restructuting over the previous 12 months under the leadership of the new Director-General. The main goal was to foster better coordination and cooperation at all levels of the Organization. Strengthening activities in the field of biological standardization was an important objective, and additional resources were being sought to support that work . WHO was grateful to organizations that had supported biological standardization work at WHO through staff secondments to help with special projects.

The committee would consider a large number of topics, which reflected the increasing complexity of the field of biologicals. Indeed, the number of new biological medicines was likely to outstrip the number of new chemical medicines coming to the market in the next few years. The challenge faced by manufacturers and national control authorities alike was to ensure the quality and safety of new and existing biologicals and the Committee had an important role to play in this regard.