April 3, 2020, Frederick, MD – A2LA is pleased to announce the accreditation of Forever Labs, located in Michigan, to ISO 20387:2018 for human biobanking activities. Forever Labs is the first human biobank in the United States to be accredited to ISO 20387:2018 – Biobanking – General requirements for biobanking.
“We are excited and honored to be the first human biobank to be accredited to the ISO 20387 bio-banking standard. We have nothing but the deepest gratitude to A2LA for their excellent commitment to quality through the entire process,” said Ann Hozeska-Solgot, Lab Director atForever Labs. “This accreditation means that Forever Labs clients can rest assured that from beginning to end, their cells are upheld to the highest standards of quality and safety that only an ISO accreditation can bring.”
“Forever Labs’ accreditation to ISO 20387 highlights the growing presence and validity of both ISO 20387 and A2LA in the biobank industry in the United States,” said Cory Arant, Accreditation Supervisor at A2LA. “We are thrilled to see that our services have been adopted in a new state and we look forward to our continued relationship with Forever Labs in serving their accreditation needs.”
Following publication of the new standard (ISO 20387:2018) in August 2018, A2LA developed its accreditation program in coordination with their technical advisory committee and industry experts, which ensured that this new area of accreditation would meet the expected level of exceptional quality assessments and deliver confidence in the materials provided from these accredited organizations. A2LA’s program ensures that the accreditation process fits to the specific activities being performed by each biobank or biorepository. This approach allows for a tailored approach to the on-site assessment for biobanks that perform all critical activities (acquisition, collection, preparation preservation, testing, analysis, distribution), as well as the smaller biobanks that may only be managing the associated data.
A2LA is also a member of International Society for Biobanking and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), whose vision is to be the leading global biobanking forum for promoting harmonized high-quality standards, education, ethical principles, and innovation in the science and management of biorepositories.
About A2LA
A2LA is a non-profit, non-governmental, third-party accreditation body, offering internationally-recognized accreditation services and training to biobanks, testing and calibration laboratories, sole-sampling organizations, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, reference material producers, and product certifiers.
