An international collaborative study was organised jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO)/National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), the United StatesPharmacopeia (USP) and the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM/Council of Europe) for the establishment of harmonised replacement endotoxinstandards for these 3 organisations. Thirty-five laboratories worldwide, including Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCLs) and manufacturers enrolled in the study. Threecandidate preparations (10/178, 10/190 and 10/196) were produced with the same material and same formulation as the current reference standards with the objective of generating anew (3rd) International Standard (IS) with the same potency (10 000 IU/vial) as the current (2nd) IS, as well as new European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). and USP standards. The suitability ofthe candidate preparations to act as the reference standard in assays for endotoxin performed according to compendial methods was evaluated. Their potency was calibrated against theWHO 2nd IS for Endotoxin (94/580). Gelation and photometric methods produced similar results for each of the candidate preparations. The overall potency estimates for the 3 batches werecomparable. Given the intrinsic assay precision, the observed differences between the batches may be considered unimportant for the intended use of these materials. Overall, these resultswere in line with those generated for the establishment of the current preparations of reference standards. Accelerated degradation testing of vials stored at elevated temperatures supportedthe long-term stability of the 3 candidate preparations.It was agreed between the 3 organisations that batch 10/178 be shared between WHO and EDQM and that batches 10/190 and 10/196 be allocated to USP, with a common assigned valueof 10 000 IU/vial. This value maintains the continuity of the global harmonisation of reference materials and unitage for the testing of endotoxins in parenteral pharmaceutical products.
