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11 February 2021 Photo UFS photo archive
The National Control Laboratory for Biological Products (NCL) Building.
There can be no compromise when it comes to the quality of medicines made available to the public.

The UFS-based National Control Laboratory for Biological Products (NCL) is a full member of the international WHO-National Control Laboratory Network for Biologicals and one of 12 laboratories worldwide contracted to perform vaccine testing for the World Health Organisation (WHO). The NCL is also the only vaccine-testing laboratory in the country that performs the final quality-control testing of all human vaccine batches marketed in South Africa on behalf of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

In its role as a vaccine-testing laboratory for the WHO, the NCL helps to ensure that the vaccines purchased through the WHO prequalification programme for international distribution to resource-limited countries, meet the high standards of quality, safety, and efficiency. 

International testing standards

The laboratory received the status of a pharmaceutical testing laboratory after the South African Accreditation System (SANAS) endorsed its quality-management systems as of a high standard according to the International Standards Organisation’s requirements.

With its international testing standards, the NCL must ensure that all its operations – from the way documents are compiled and stored, to the maintenance of equipment and infrastructure, as well as staff competency – are performed according to international guidelines.

The laboratory has all the quality systems in place to ensure high-quality test results. The certificate of Good Manufacturing Compliance received in 2019 indicates that laboratory testing is on the expected level for any pharmaceutical testing laboratory and manufacturer. This certification is very strict and means that the NCL complies with exceptionally strict standards for pharmaceutical labs anywhere in the world. The certification offers the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, the WHO, and other national control laboratories around the world the confidence that the test results from the NCL can be trusted.

Licensed as pharmaceutical manufacturer

The laboratory is also licensed as a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Although the lab does not manufacture, it needs to comply with manufacturing standards. It is rare for a pharmaceutical testing laboratory (such as the NCL) outside of a manufacturing context to qualify for both certifications.

News Archive

Producers to save thousands with routine marketing strategies, says UFS researcher
2014-09-01

 

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Using derivative markets as a marketing strategy can be complicated for farmers. The producers tend to use high risk strategies which include the selling of the crop on the cash market after harvest; whilst the high market risks require innovative strategies including the use of futures and options as traded on the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX).

Using these innovative strategies are mostly due to a lack of interest and knowledge of the market. The purpose of the research conducted by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter from the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is to examine whether the adoption of a basic routine strategy is better than adopting no strategy at all.

The research illustrates that by using a Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) and Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) that the use of five basic routine marketing strategies can be more rewarding. These basic strategies are:
• Put (plant time)
• Twelve-segment pricing
• Three-segment pricing
• Put (pollination)(Critical Moment in production/marketing process), and
• Pricing during pollination phase.

These strategies can be adopted by farmers without an in-depth understanding of the market and market-signals. Farmers can save as much as R1.6 million per year on a 2000ha farm with an average yield.

The results obtained from the research illustrate that each strategy is different for each crop. Very important is that the hedging strategies are better than no hedging strategy at all.

This research can also be applicable to the procurement side of the supply chain.

Maize milling firms use complex procurement strategies to procure their raw materials, or sometimes no strategy at all. In this research, basic routine price hedging strategies were analysed as part of the procurement of white maize over a ten-year period ranging from 2002–2012. Part of the pricing strategies used to procure white maize over the period of ten years were a call and min/max strategy. These strategies were compared to the baseline spot market. The data was obtained from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Agricultural Products Division better known as SAFEX.

The results obtained from the research prove that by using basic routine price-hedging strategies to procure white maize, it is more beneficial to do so than by procuring from the spot market (a difference of more than R100 mil).

Thus, it can be concluded that it is not always necessary to use a complex method of sourcing white maize through SAFEX, to be efficient. By implementing a basic routine price hedging strategy year on year it can be better than procuring from the spot market.

Understanding the Maize Maze by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter (pdf) - The Dairy Mail


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