About the Center for Veterinary Biologics

Last Modified: January 23, 2025

The Veterinary Biologics Program implements the provisions of the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act (VSTA) to assure that pure, safe, potent, and effective veterinary biologics are available for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of animal diseases.

This mission mandates the use of sound scientific technology to:

Ensure that biologics are free of disease-producing agents, especially foreign animal diseases
Develop appropriate standards and procedures for product release
Issue licenses and permits
Monitor and inspect products and facilities
Control field tests and release of veterinary biologics

Vision

The Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) plays a vital role in regulating products that diagnose, prevent, or treat animal diseases. The CVB uses scientific information and regulatory processes to assure its customers that the veterinary biological products available for use are of high quality. It encourages open communication with stakeholders as new products and standards are developed. The CVB promotes the use of quality assurance processes that inherently result in the production of pure, safe, potent, and effective veterinary biologics and diagnostics. It provides strong leadership in the development and international harmonization of standards for veterinary biological products.

Training

The CVB for many years conducted training for industry scientists and foreign regulators. As real resources decreased, the training became more difficult to achieve. Currently, the CVB participates with the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, the National Animal Disease Center, and the College of Veterinary Medicine of Iowa State University in the Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics (IICAB). The IICAB offers an annual Veterinary Biologics Training Program for international regulatory officials and domestic industry personnel. The CVB concentrates its training and foreign visitation into this yearly, 3-week program. Such interactions assist in laboratory-to-laboratory correlation and increase the international acceptance of the laboratory techniques, the veterinary biologics program, and the veterinary biological products of the United States.

Employment

The CVB offers positions to highly motivated individuals specializing in many areas of animal health including veterinary medicine, microbiology, and biological sciences. Positions may exist with the CVB laboratory or an office environment for the Policy, Evaluation, and Licensing staff or Inspection and Compliance staff. Positions may also be available for office automation and management support staff. Visit USAJOBS to see current vacancy announcements specific to the CVB. You may also use this site to register for notification about future CVB job announcements.

Watch this video to hear what employees have to say about working for the CVB.