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Introduction. The need to maintain a high level of vaccination coverage against measles, rubella and mumps in conditions of an increased risk of outbreaks of infections due to violations of vaccination tactics associated with the pandemic of coronavirus infection and due to the unfavorable epidemic situation in neighboring countries determines the advisability of using a combined vaccine for the simultaneous prevention of these three socially significant infections. The aim of the study: to analyze the quality of commercial series of a new domestic combined cultured live vaccine against measles, rubella and mumps (MRM) throughout the entire time of its manufacturing according to all specification indicators in regulatory documentation (RD). Materials and methods. The object of the study was the combined cultured live vaccine against measles, rubella and mumps. The analysis of the quality of the drug was carried out according to 86 consolidated production protocols of manufactured series, as well as according to the results of control of these series in the Testing Center for Quality Expertise of the Federal State Budgetary Institution NCESMP of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Results. It is shown that the quality of the combined drug for the prevention of measles, rubella and mumps corresponds to the RD in all studied indicators. The drug does not contain an antibiotic. Bovine serum albumin, which is a technological impurity, is detected in quantities more than 5 times lower than the established norm. A comparison of the specific activity of the viral components of new combined domestic vaccine and the components of the bivalent vaccine against measles and mumps produced by the company in 20192021 showed that the spread of the activity values of the viral components in the new drug and in the series of mumps-measles vaccine was minimal, which allowed us to make a conclusion about the stability of the production technology. Conclusion. The quality of the new domestic combined vaccine for the prevention of measles, rubella and mumps meets WHO requirements. The results of the conducted studies indicate the stability of production and the standard quality of the drug. The use of a combined vaccine against three significant infections will ensure the necessary level of vaccination coverage in the population. Information about the results of studies can help reduce the number of vaccination refusal.

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To ensure the quality of immunobiologicals, it is required to quantify the thiomersal preservative present in a number of them. The authors have previously developed an analytical procedure for thiomersal quantification in non-adsorbed immunobiological medicinal products, which is based on cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV AAS). The aim of the study was to analyse the possibility of using the CV AAS procedure for thiomersal content determination in adsorbed immunobiologicals and evaluate the comparability of thiomersal quantification results obtained by colourimetry and CV AAS. Materials and methods: the study used the national reference standard of mercury ions content and the pharmacopoeial reference standard of thiomersal content in adsorbed medicinal products (PhRS 3.1.00427), as well as samples of immunobiologicals by different manufacturers: a DTP vaccine, anatoxins, hepatitis B and influenza vaccines, and combined vaccines. The study involved CV AAS and the colourimetric reaction between mercury and dithizone. Results: the specificity of the CV AAS procedure is demonstrated by the coefficient of variation (3.95%) and the coefficient of correlation between the test sample volume and thiomersal content (0.9956). The regression analysis and the Fisher’s test value of 0.16 indicate the absence of bias. The trueness of the method is satisfactory, as the percent recovery differs from the total spiked amount by less than 10%. For the sensitivity of the CV AAS procedure, its quantification and detection limits are 6.9×10-3 μg/ mL and 2.3×10-3  μg/ mL, respectively. The Fisher’s test value obtained in the comparability assessment of the results of thiomersal quantification by colourimetry and CV AAS (1.29) is lower than the conventional tabulated one (3.96). Conclusions: according to the study, it is possible to use the CV AAS procedure for thiomersal quantification in adsorbed immunobiologicals. The established detection limit allows evaluating residual amounts of thiomersal in in-process intermediates during the production of preservative-free immunobilogical dosage forms. The comparability assessment of the results of thiomersal quantification by colourimetry and CV AAS, carried out using oneway ANOVA and Fisher’s test, showed the possibility of using PhRS 3.1.00427 to control the consistency of operation when reproducing the CV AAS procedure.

Reference standards for structure identification of recombinant therapeutic proteins are essential for quality assessment of recombinant protein-based biotechnological medicinal products. The development and certification of such reference standards hold special relevance because of, firstly, the absence of international, national or compendial reference standards for a number of new or recently approved proteins and, secondly, the disruption of supply chains providing the biopharmaceutical industry of the Russian Federation with international reference standards. Moreover, international and national regulatory documents contain only general requirements for the procedure of reference standards certification but not the considerations specific to the standards for biotechnologicals’ structure identification, which vary with the production technologies for each individual active moiety. The aim of this work was to provide recommendations on the procedure for the development and certification of reference standards used to identify the structure of recombinant therapeutic proteins. These recommendations define 4 main stages of the procedure: stage 1 covers the development of requirements for the reference standard, including the justification of material and formulation choices, the elaboration of quality specifications, and the assessment of quality; stage 2 comprises the selection of analytical procedures and the establishment of the values for the certified parameters; stage 3 includes stability studies and shelf-life setting; and stage 4 involves the development of documentation for the reference standard. The paper dwells upon the scope of the stages, taking into account the specific considerations for recombinant therapeutic proteins and the use of reference standards. The recommendations are based upon the extensive experience in biotechnologicals testing and standardisation of the employees of the Scientific Centre for Expert Evaluation of Medicinal Products. These recommendations can provide a base for the establishment of protein-specific certification programmes for reference standards used in structure identification. This approach will allow for systematisation of the process for standards development and ensure the traceability of information and the validity of results. The reference standards certified in accordance with these recommendations can be considered primary standards, if necessary.