Paul-Ehrlich-Institut

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WHO Col­lab­o­rat­ing Cen­tre for the Qual­i­ty As­sur­ance of Blood Prod­ucts and in vit­ro Di­ag­nos­tic De­vices (IVD) des­ig­nat­ed for the fifth time

The World Health Organization has confirmed the redesignation of the WHO Collaborating Center for Quality Assurance of Blood Products and in vitro Diagnostic Devices at the Division of Haematology / Transfusion Medicine of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. The designation period is valid from 21 July 2021 to 21 July 2025.

WHO Building Geneva (Source: Diego Grandi/Shutterstock.com)

The focus of the work in the next four-year designation period includes among others

  • the development and participation in collaborative studies for the development of biological reference preparations for the in vitro diagnosis of blood-associated viral diseases
  • as well as the participation in the drafting of WHO guidelines and recommendations.

The Microbiological Safety Unit is planning to develop non-endotoxin pyrogen (NEP) - reference reagents for the monocyte activation test. The monocyte activation test is used to detect fever-causing substances (pyrogens) in drugs. The test simulates a natural immune response to a feverish reaction caused by a pyrogen. Whole human blood is used for the test, which should facilitate the replacement of animal experiments with in vitro methods.

Participation in the so-called WHO Achilles Project is another focus of the collaboration. The project aims to improve access to safe blood products through local production and associated technology transfer in blood donation facilities for low and middle income countries (LMIC) and to establish globally harmonized standards.

The aim is to enable those countries to use blood components such as life-saving plasma derivatives, e.g. coagulation factor concentrates currently discarded as biological waste.

Experts of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut also support the WHO in evaluating the regulation of blood products with the Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) plus Blood.

The WHO Collaborating Centre is headed by PD Dr Micha Nübling, experts of the divsions of Hematology, Virology and International Coordination as well as the specialist areas of Microbiological Safety, Inspections, and Mono- and Polyclonal Antibodies, carry out the tasks of the centre.

Updated: 27.07.2021