The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry entitled “Q5A(R2) Viral Safety Evaluation of Biotechnology Products Derived from Cell Lines of Human or Animal Origin.” The guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The guidance is intended to describe risk-based principles and mitigation strategies to assure the viral safety of biotechnology products, including the data necessary to submit in a marketing application. The guidance also finalizes the updates based on advances in scientific knowledge and regulatory expectations to the first version of the ICH guidance for industry “Q5A Viral Safety Evaluation of Biotechnology Products Derived from Cell Lines of Human or Animal Origin,” issued in September 1998. Lastly, the guidance replaces the draft guidance “Q5A(R2) Viral Safety Evaluation of Biotechnology Products Derived from Cell Lines of Human or Animal Origin” issued on November 14, 2022.