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Biologics Regulation and ResearchThe People and Work of Buildings 29 & 29A

John C. Petricciani, M.D.
(birth date unknown–still living)

“Real progress is made when industry and regulatory authorities tackle a problem together on the basis of sound scientific principles and hard data that support decision-making.”

  • — Dr. John C. Petricciani

John Petricciani was born in Sacramento, California and had a passion for science from an early age. He received his B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his M.S. in chemistry from the University of Nevada, and his M.D. from Stanford University. He completed his pediatric internship at Buffalo Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, New York.

In 1968, Dr. Petricciani joined the Public Health Service and was assigned to the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was a medical officer in the Laboratory of Pathology. When the DBS was administratively transferred from the NIH to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Petricciani stayed on in Pathology, rising to deputy director of the Division of Pathology by 1976. He continued to advance quickly at the FDA and became the assistant director of clinical research, the special assistant to the FDA Commissioner, and director of the Bio-Research Monitoring Program.

a professional photo of Dr. John Petricciani in a suit with pink tie

International Alliance for Biologics Standardization

A photo from the CASSS Hancock Award Ceremony 2017, John C. Petricciani and Wassim Nashabeh, both wearing suits, holding the award

Photo from CASSS Hancock Award Ceremony 2017, John C. Petricciani, left, and Wassim Nashabeh, CASSS board member, right. CASSS
Early in his career at the FDA, Petricciani discovered that bacteriophages (a virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside of it) were a common contaminant of childhood vaccines. His initial reasoning was that bacteriophages were normal flora in the human intestine and were unlikely to be a serious health risk to children receiving the vaccines. Nevertheless, studies in small animals and monkeys were undertaken and after years of observation, there was no evidence of harm from bacteriophages.

From 1973 to 1980, Petricciani also practiced medicine part time and taught at George Washington University as an adjunct professor of genetics.

In 1982, Petricciani returned to the NIH as the assistant director for medical affairs in the Office for Protection from Research Risks. He also returned to the FDA in the same year as the director of the Office of Biologics under the National Center for Drugs and Biologics (the name, at the time, of what had been the DBS and is now called CBER). He worked closely with Drs. Harry Meyer and Paul Parkman, and Hope Hopps as part of the leadership team of biologics.

In 1985, Petricciani left the FDA to become the chief medical officer for biologicals at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, he has also worked at the National AIDS Program in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Genetics Institute, and at CancerVax. He was also active as a board member and past president of the International Alliance for Biological Standardization.

Petricciani received the 2017 Hancock Award for Outstanding Achievement in CMC Regulatory Science from CASSS, a non-profit science society, for his long and esteemed career in the biologics regulatory field. His accomplishments highlighted at the award ceremony included: his discovery that bacteriophages in childhood vaccines posed no serious health risk for children; his work with the industry and the WHO to establish safety standards for diploid cells used to produce human vaccines; and his landmark paper that paved the way for hundreds of clinical research studies of products manufactured in continuous cell lines, and eventually for over 70 currently licensed products.

Dr. Petricciani worked in Building 29, Room 513.

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