Global conference: Animal testing replacement for vaccines. A One Health View: global outlook and future strategy

Bangkok, Thailand
2nd December 2025

An AFSA conference in collaboration with Humane World for Animals and International Alliance for Biological Standardization (IABS)

Bangkok, Thailand / December 2-4 2025

In person, 2 days and half conference

REGISTER

Humane World for Animals—formerly known as Humane Society International—and IABS have been collaborating together since the 2019 IABS conference “Animal Testing for Vaccines Implementing Replacement, Reduction and Refinement: Challenges and Priorities” (Akkermans et al.) and under the AFSA Collaboration since 2020. They successfully organized online and face to face meetings (AFSA Collaborations Events) to promote dialogue and joint actions on animal testing replacement for both human and veterinary vaccines. This conference wishes to bring together again all the stakeholders in the field with the scope to concretely discuss about future projects and policy changes that need to be implemented to successfully phase out the reliance on animal testing within the vaccines testing control strategy (including product development, CMC and release), including the importance of vaccines’ supply chain sustainability and continuity and the benefits of this in supporting the role of vaccines in One Health (ensuring animal health and food chain security, addressing zoonosis and emergency disease situations as well as the critical role of vaccines in reducing AMR).

Target audience: human and veterinary vaccines manufacturers and regulators, CROs, kits and reagents suppliers, National Regulatory Agencies and National Control Laboratories, international organizations and not for profits organizations

Organizing Committee

  • Laura Viviani, SciEthiQ for Humane World for Animals
  • Madinina Cox, IABS
  • Marléne Louis, IABS

Scientific Committee

  • Elisabeth Balks, PEI, Germany
  • Emmanuelle Coppens, Sanofi
  • Pradip Das, Biological E, India
  • Juliana Gutierrez, bioMérieux
  • Sunil Goel, Serum Institute of India
  • Carmen Jungbäck, IABS
  • Robin Levis, US FDA
  • Laurent Mallet, EDQM
  • Alexandrine Maes, WHO – NNB
  • Kutub Mahmood, PATH
  • Laura Martinez, Virbac, HealthforAnimals
  • Shawn Novick, IABS
  • Hendrik Jan Ormel, Chair of the Dutch Central Committee on Animal Testing
  • Ray Prasad, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Shahjahn Shaid, GSK
  • Gautam Sanyal, Vaccine Analytics, USA
  • Heidemarie Schindl, AGES, Austria
  • Dean Smith, HealthCanada
  • Paul Stickings, MHRA, UK
  • Catrina Stirling, Zoetis, HealthforAnimals
  • Joris Vandeputte, IABS
  • Geneviève Waeterloos, Sciensano, Belgium
  • Wipawee Wongchana, Institute of Biologicals Products, Thailand
  • Irma Riyanti, Bio Farma, Indonesia Jack Xie, J&J China

PROVISIONAL AGENDA

Day 1: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025

  • Opening Remarks from the Animal Free Safety Assessment Collaboration (AFSA), the International Alliance for Biological Standardization (IABS) and the Institute of Biological Products, Ministry of Health of Thailand
  • OneHealth approach to advance control strategies to support vaccine sustainability
  • Bird’s eye view on the last on the projects and achievements in the field
  • Industry perspective on future changes in the field and global alignment
  • Regulatory perspective: ongoing progresses in methods acceptance, update of legislations, regulations and guidelines
  • Workshop: How to build competence in new testing strategies in Regulatory Agencies Laboratories and strategies to
  • streamline batch release strategies
  • Workshop: Safety Testing. Achievements and next steps for the implementation

Day 2: Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025

  • Development/qualification/control activities as critical steps to ensure quality/consistency: legacy and new products experiences from the CMC/Quality
  • Adjuvants and their impact on the in vitro release strategy
  • Role of the International Reference Standards for in vitro assays. Need of new standards or use of in house?
  • Validation, collaborative studies, product specific validation. All valuable approaches, choosing the right one is key for successful implementation and regulatory acceptance
  • Workshop: Potency Testing: Achievements and next steps for implementation
  • Roles of global health foundations on their potential role in funding / cost sharing for capital investment and training

Day 3: Thursday, December 4th, 2025 (half day)

  • Workshop: a new approach to pyrogenicity. How MAT and recombinant BET are changing the approach to pyrogenicity
  • A sustainable approach to reagents
  • Align agendas, roles and expertise: Networks, collaborations and their transformative role