WWARN Proficiency Testing programme awarded ISO international standards accreditation

The WWARN Pharmacology Proficiency Testing (PT) programme has been granted official Proficiency Testing Provider accreditation according to International Organization for Standardisation ISO 17043:2010 - one of the highest achievements in international standards for proficiency testing. This accreditation recognises;

• Proof of a high quality management system with internationally recognised services
• Well-defined and documented procedures to improve the consistency of data output
• Evidence that quality is well measured.

The WWARN Pharmacology Proficiency Testing (PT) programme assesses the ability of  participating laboratories to quantify malaria drug levels in patient blood samples, resolve any technical problems and achieve lasting improvements. In doing so, they increase the reliability of published antimalarial pharmacokinetic data and enable pooled individual patient data analyses, such as those facilitated by WWARN.

ISO Accreditation Cermony: (Left to right) Dr Mehul Dhorda, Pak Sadomthian, Prof Joel Tarning, Chris Lourens

This ISO accreditation provides the programme with independent verification of the high standard of quality assurance measures implemented to provide proficiency test samples for 13 antimalarial drugs and metabolites. The Pharmacology PT programme is hosted in the Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit Pharmacology Department, led by Prof Joel Tarning, Head of Pharmacometrics and Director of the Pharmacology PT programme at WWARN.

“The Pharmacology PT programme has demonstrated substantial improvements over subsequent rounds of PT for many participants. This will ultimately help to generate high quality pharmacokinetic data so that pharmacological evaluations of antimalarial drugs can be compared between studies and pooled together for meta-analyses,” says Prof Tarning.

“We are thrilled to have been awarded with the ISO accreditation for our PT programme,” adds Dr Mehul Dhorda, head of the WWARN External Quality Assurance Programme, based in Bangkok. “This recognition will help our PT programme partners across the world to obtain their own ISO accreditation or maintain their existing accreditation.”

This accreditation will help other laboratories participating in the WWARN PT programme to comply with requirements of ISO/IEC or other quality standards and further support the quality improvement in antimalarial pharmacokinetic analyses worldwide.

ISO  is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 163 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

 “Our international accreditation ensures that the accreditedProficiency Testing Provider such as the WWARN Proficiency Testing Programme provides laboratories of PT schemes with high confidence that the schemes are being operated competently in accordance with specified technical and management system requirements,” say Mrs. Dusadee Munkwamdee, Director of the Bureau of Laboratory Accreditation from the Department of Science Services, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand.

“We are currently working with 15 pharmacology laboratories from across the globe as part of this Pharmacology PT programme,” adds Chris Lourens, Manager for the Quality Assurance/Quality Control Programme. “We hope this ISO accreditation will encourage other pharmacology laboratories to participate in the PT programme and will provide the opportunity to expand the scope of the programme in the future.”

Find out more information about how the External Quality Assurance (EQA) programme in providing research evidence to support international efforts to fight antimalarial drug resistance through both its proficiency testing schemes and reference material schemes.

Visit the ISO website.