New facility to help strengthen pharmaceutical care standards

Non-profit organisation the US Pharmacopeia (USP) has opened its newest international site in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Shanghai.

The USP-China facility supports the organisation's international public health mission to ensure good pharmaceutical care and quality food ingredients by developing and disseminating standards and information for medicines, healthcare delivery, food ingredients, and related products and practices.

The new facility, which is approximately 10,500 square feet, has office and laboratory space, and is ideally located near many of USP's key pharmaceutical clients.

Dr John Hu, international vice president-China, said: "USP-China will work closely with State Food and Drug Administration - the Chinese Pharmacopoeia - National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, and other constituencies to help ensure the quality of medicines and food ingredients and better serve our customers.

"Our presence will benefit Chinese manufacturers, government agencies and ultimately patients in China, the US, and the many countries to which China exports."

The USP-China facility will provide local manufacturers with better access to USP's publications and reference standards as well as other related services. USP's reference standards are used to help assure quality through testing to assess whether an article conforms to the published standards in the United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary.

USP also operates facilities in Hyderabad, India and Basel, Switzerland, and has plans to open a site in Brazil.