[Approval of a bone bank: an institution's experience]

The new tissue laws of 2007 created a completely new situation for German musculoskeletal tissue banks. The objective of the new regulations in the recent German tissue act is to improve safety by reducing the risk of transmission of viral and nonviral diseases. Since 2007 tissue banks have to declare their intention to continue providing allografts to the local authorities until August 2011 based on the guidelines of the Federal Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer 2001) and according to § 144 of the Pharmaceutical Products Act (Arzneimittelgesetz). The Orthopedic University Clinic in Ulm applied for registration according to § 20 b and c of the Pharmaceutical Products Act in 2010. After submitting all the required documents, government officials controlled the equipment, distribution of responsible personnel, location of operating theatres and the laboratory and quality assurance documentation. After alluding to the lack of validation for the use of a hemoculture medium for testing ringer lactate solutions, permission according to § 20 b and c was granted with the obligation to transfer all serological and microbiological testing of tissue donors to another laboratory with its own approval under § 20 c of the Pharmaceutical Products Act.