The selection of reference and proficiency chemicals is an important component of method validation and proficiency evaluations. Reference chemicals are a set of test substances used by a method developer to evaluate there liability and relevance of a new method, in comparison to reference data (usually to a validated reference method). Proficiency chemicals, as defined in OECD Guidance Document on Good In Vitro Method Practices, are defined post validation as a subset of the reference chemicals, or other chemicals with sufficient supporting data, that are used by naive laboratories to demonstrate technical competence with a validated test method. Proficiency chemicals should cover different physical states, several chemical classes within the applicability domain of the method and yield the full range of response (in the validated reference method and in vivo). They shall be commercially available (at non prohibitive costs) and have high quality reference data. If reference and subsequent proficiency chemicals are chosen without sufficient evidence for their inclusion, both test method evaluation and demonstration of technical proficiency can be hampered. In this report we present cases in which the selection of reference chemicals led to problems in the reproduction of the reference results and demonstration of technical proficiency.
March 18, 2019