Automated Zone Measuring System Reduces Timelines for Release of Flu Vaccines

One of the world's largest WHO pre-qualified vaccine suppliers, Bio Farma in Indonesia is now using a ProtoCOL system from Synbiosis, to speed up the quality testing of its seasonal flu vaccines.

The ProtoCOL system is being used in the Quality Control Department at Bio Farma to rapidly measure inhibition zones on 16-zone SRD (Single Radial Immunodiffusion) plates of flu vaccines. Scientists at Bio Farma can now analyse 10 SRD plates in the time it would take to manually perform one analysis, while also producing a more accurate and reproducible indication of vaccine potency. This is ensuring Bio Farma can deliver its vaccines to healthcare professionals as, and when, they are needed.

Mrs Iin Susanti, Head of Quality Control at Bio Farma stated: 'We originally tested influenza vaccine potency on SRD plates by measuring zones with a ruler. This was so time consuming that we knew we had to automate. We consulted scientists at the NIBSC and they recommended the ProtoCOL so we purchased the system in 2008.'

Mrs Susanti continued: 'The ProtoCOL came with good IQ and OQ documentation and our local agent, Besha Analitika was very helpful so much so that we installed and validated the system's performance to use it from August to October 2008 to test our seasonal vaccine batch. Using the ProtoCOL we measured thousands of zones on SRD plates in much less time than we did in 2007, which meant we released our vaccines to market sooner.'

Martin Smith of Synbiosis concluded: 'There is only a short time when there is a large demand for seasonal flu vaccines, so we are pleased that our ProtoCOL automated zone sizing system is helping Bio Farma to maximise the market opportunity. Their excellent improvement in vaccine testing throughput confirms that a ProtoCOL automated zone sizing system can really benefit pharma and biotech companies looking to make flu vaccines available more rapidly.'