WHO International Standards and Reference Materials

NIBSC is currently the world’s major producer and distributor of WHO International Standards and reference materials (supplying over 95% of Standards). The effective use of vaccines, most biotechnology products in therapy and many other biologicals depends on the availability of international biological standards supplied by NIBSC.

The complex assays used to assure the potency of biologicals require the use of a standard of biological activity (a batch of a substance that has been assigned units of activity and is used as a ’benchmark’). The system of World Health Organization (WHO) International Standards provides a set of common standards that are essential if quality testing results from different parts of the world are to be comparable. International Standards are the "gold standards" from which countries and manufacturers can calibrate their own standards for biological testing.

We aim to remain the world’s leading developer and supplier of high quality International Reference Materials for biological medicines and to be recognized as the world’s foremost centre of expertise and excellence in biological standardisation.