National Biological Standards Board Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31st March 2009 (House of Commons Papers)

The National Biological Standards Board is responsible for safeguarding and advancing public health by assuring the quality and safety of biologicals, through its management of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC). NIBSC provides independent testing of biological medicines for the UK market, in particular with vaccines for the UK children's vaccination programme, and operates as an Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL) of the European Union for release of medicines onto the EU market. NIBSC testing of products already released onto the EU market may also be carried out when particular problems arise such as failure of storage conditions or following adverse reactions in patients. The core functions of the NIBSC are: control and evaluation of biological medicines; development and provision of key biological standards and other reference materials. It is the leading WHO International Laboratory for standards. This annual report and accounts is the final annual report as the NIBSC merged in April 2009 with the Health Protection Agency.