Press release -

Next Generation Sequencing and its Impact on Viral Safety Testing

On the 4th of June 2015, a webinar was hosted by Informa and supported by BioReliance’s Global Head of Regulatory Affairs - Dr Martin Wisher regarding next generation sequencing and its impact on viral safety testing.

The latest advancements surrounding what technology could be used and the future for next generation sequencing revealed that the availability of next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques strongly modifies the strategies of control of the viral safety of biologics products and it is now possible to use the tools of metagenomics and in this setting, the sequence of all the nucleic acids species of the sample are determined and compared with those in database, thus providing a means of ensuring the optimum viral safety of a product.

The webinar was put together as part of the conference experience leading up to the annual Viral Safety & Raw Materials for Biologics meeting being hosted by Informa in Vienna, Austria between the 23rd & 24th June 2015.

Webinar Overview:

Over 278 x people registered online to listen to the webinar that took place on the 4th June 2015 during which the webinar discussion revolved around the following topics;

  • Will the introduction of new technology impact the way the authorities view things and could this then pave the way for an industry standard?
  • At what stages would NGS be implemented?
  • What specifications need to be set?
  • How would is this technology used?
  • Data handling – how the output of data produced from NGS is managed and consequences of sharing that data?
  • Would you combine technologies (NGS and other) to ensure greater safety?
  • How does NGS compare against alternative methods?
  • Validation of techniques

A prerecording of the webinar was made and is now available to download. The prerecording is free to download and can be found by following this link;

http://www.informa-ls.com/event/ViralSafety2015/freedownloads

We spoke with Jim Spencer, Marketing Manager at BioReliance to get his thoughts about the webinar and about Informa’s Webinar Service.

Informa: Tell us a little about the webinar and what you were looking to achieve.

Jim: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is well suited for areas of biosafety testing such as adventitious agent testing.For several years, BioReliance has been working with biopharmaceutical companies to apply NGS to contamination testing of their samples and some of these clients have implemented NGS regularly as a research and development tool.The purpose of our webinar was to review NGS applications to biosafety testing and to share our thoughts on the challenges that must be addressed to achieve acceptance of NGS for routine testing usage by regulatory agencies.

Informa: How would you rate your webinar experience out of 5, 1 = poor and 5 = excellent?

Jim: I would rate our experience as a 5+!From the very start, Informa provided us with a well mapped-out plan and then guided us through the process from beginning to end.Everything went very smoothly and the results we obtained were better than could be expected.

Informa: Would you recommend other companies to use Informa’s webinar service?

Jim: Yes!We have done a few webinars over the past few years, but this was by far the best.

Informa: Did Informa’s webinar service meet your expectations?

Jim: Yes! Probably through a combination of the webinar topic and the people that Informa was able to reach thought their invitation emails and meeting web posting, the webinar was well attended.

About Informa’s Viral Safety & Raw Materials for Biologics Meeting

The Viral Safety & Raw Materials conference provides the ideal opportunity to get up to speed with the latest Viral Safety requirements in place for biotech and plasma products whilst also reviewing aspects of supply chain management.

Those attending will be able to walk away with a greater understanding of the latest technologies available for;

  • viral safety detection
  • cutting edge feedback on the developments surrounding filtration methods,
  • compliance requirements for raw materials, the best ways to ensure viral safety through traceability and transparency in the supply chain
  • gaining insight from industry leaders in the form of case studies.

Next years Viral Safety & Raw Materials for Biologics meeting will take place in Cologne between the 21st & 22 nd June 2016. For details on how to join the meeting or to register as a potential speaker or exhibitor please contact:

Program queries: Sarah.Lintern@informa.com

Commercial queries: James.Miguel@informa.com


Topics

  • Health, Health Care, Pharmaceuticals

Categories

  • viral safety; testing; next generation sequencing; ngs; bioreliance; martin wisher; raw materials

Please contact daniel.barry@informa.com for further info

Tel: +44 (0) 207 017 6978

Contacts

Daniel Barry

Press contact Dr BPI Europe Project Manager