USP India, United States Pharmacopoeia's Indian chapter, will focus on developing and revising its standard setting activities in India, said Ashok Dang, senior manager of USP-India Ltd.
The company will encourage the Indian pharmaceutical companies in developing higher manufacturing standards. With its experienced scientists, USP-India will provide USP's broad range of pharmacopoeial services to customers in India and surrounding countries, he said. United States Pharmacopoeia is neither part of US government nor a regulatory authority in the US. It is a standard setting organization. In India, it is registered as USP India Private Limited, he added.
Speaking at a meeting organised by the Tamil Nadu chapter of Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Ashok Dang said that USP relies on the scientific expertise and collaboration of more than 1,000 volunteer experts worldwide to develop and revise its standards. These volunteers represent medicine, research science, pharmaceutical and food ingredients industries, academia, consumer organizations and the US Government. The company will make use of their expertise for further development of Indian Pharmacopoeia to promote high quality, safe and effective medicines for use within India.
According to some IPA members, the company has decided to expand its activities in the country, because India has achieved significant growth in pharmaceutical industry and is exporting quality pharma products across the world. "USP is committed to meeting our customers' high quality expectations and is certified with relevant International Standards Organization (ISO) standards like ISO 9001:2000 certification and ISO 17025:2005 accreditation," said Ashok Dang. He added that the company's core activities included publications, documentary and reference standards, patient safety, verification programmes, Health care information and international public health activities. Some of the key USP publications are the United States Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary (USP-NF), the Pharmacopoeial Forum, the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC), Reference Standards and Pharmacists Pharmacopoeia.
Interacting with Pharmabiz, he said the USP entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission in August 2006. "The initial MoU was for a period of one year, and subsequently renewed for two more years. As part of the MoU, we have also been conducting annual science meetings that give both IPC and USP the opportunity to interact closely with the pharmaceutical industry," he said.