On Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017, the 10th TRIP Biovigilance symposium took place in the Arminius conference center in Rotterdam. This internationally oriented symposium, with as theme ‘10 years of biovigilance’, was organized in collaboration with Belgium.

Chairman Pim Janssens (Chairman, TRIP Advieskamer Biovigilantie) opened the day with a welcome speech and was followed by Arlinke Bokhorst (Director, bureau TRIP) who gave a summary of the past 10 years of biovigilance in the Netherlands. Prior to the coffee break, Professor Ludo Muylle (University of Antwerp and on behalf of FAMHP) gave a presentation on biovigilance in Belgium.

Three presentations took place after the coffee break. Ingrida Pucinskaite-Kubik (European Commission DG SANTE) discussed the future of biovigilance at the EU level. Evi Petrisli (NOTIFY Library) explained how NOTIFY Library works and what kind of data they collect. As the last presentation before lunch Jeroen van Baare (Inspector IGJ) provided clarity on inspections of tissue establishments by the IGJ (Inspectorate for Healthcare and Youth).

After lunch, there were three parallel sessions. Marjan Happel (Coordinator for biovigilance, bureau TRIP) and Professor Sjoerd Repping (KLEM, AMC) supervised a session on assisted reproduction (ART) in which, among other things, ten years of biovigilance in the field were discussed. Jo Wiersum (National Coordinator, bureau TRIP) held simultaneous sessions on hematopoietic and therapeutic cells. Arlinke Bokhorst (Director, TRIP) led a session on international tissue cooperation and vigilance, during which Professor Ramadhan Jashari (European Homograft Bank, Brussels) gave a presentation about the cooperation between Belgium and the Netherlands in the field of cardiovascular tissue biovigilance.

 

 

Following the presentations, a reception was held in the beautiful Arminius church. The symposium was assessed as ‘good’ on average. On behalf of TRIP, thank you to all participants for their participation in a very successful day and to all speakers for their contribution!