The FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) in Rockville, MD, published a poster that considers rapid sterility testing and compares different modern methods with compendial methods. Seema Parveen, Simleen Kaur, James L. Kenney, William M. McCormick and Rajesh K. Gupta, researchers in the Division of Product Quality (DPQ) in the Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality (OCBQ) are working to reduce the expenditure of time for classic sterility testing by evaluating rapid microbial methods for sterility testing of biologicals.
The alternative methods they evaluated are:
BACTEC
- Direct inoculation into standard aerobic and anaerobic liquid media
- Early detection of bacterial growth based on CO2 fluorimetric detection
BacT/ALERT R
- Direction inoculation into iAST and iNST liquid media
- Detection of bacterial growth based on CO2 colorimetric detection
Rapid MilliflexR
- Growth on solid media: Tryptic soy agar (TSA), Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA), and Schaedler blood agar (SBA)
- Inoculum filtered by membrane; membrane sprayed with ATP releasing and bioluminescence reagents
- Photons generated ATP bioluminescence are captured and detected by photon counting imaging tube; picture displayed on computer monitor.
Some colonies identified even before visual growth on medium.
(more details about these methods can be found in the RMM database in the members' area of the ECA RMM Working Group)
Major Findings:
Author
Axel H. Schroeder
CONCEPT HEIDELBERG (a service provider entrusted by the ECA Foundation)