The second international standard for chlortetracycline

As supplies of the International Standard for Chlortetracycline were practically exhausted, it was replaced. The potency of the second international standard was defined on the basis of an international collaborative assay comprising 157 individual assays performed in 9 laboratories in 6 countries. The mean potencies obtained in the participating laboratories, although they varied by only 7%, were heterogeneous. However, the mean potency for all the laboratories combined did not differ significantly from that of the first international standard. The International Unit for chlortetracycline was therefore defined as the activity contained in 0.001 mg of the second international standard, corresponding to a potency of 1 000 IU/mg.