USP workshop examines ways to improve medicines quality in Asia-Pacific region

At the workshop, members of the USP Global Health Impact Program’s Network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories (NOMCoL) Asia-Pacific chapter will learn new and practical analytical techniques, share best practices and discuss ways to sustainably strengthen the capacity of official medicines control laboratories in the region.

USP provides this annual workshop as a platform for NOMCoL Asia-Pacific member countries to resolve shared challenges, report on national advances, and exchange data, insights and lessons learned. By facilitating active collaboration and information-sharing across nations and regions, USP aims to advance the sustainable development of official medicines control laboratories (OMCLs) that are capable of producing and sharing harmonized and internationally-recognized data, ensuring the quality of medicines, and combatting the proliferation of falsified and substandard drugs.

USP has established four regional networks of OMCLs to advance medicines quality: The External Quality Control Programs (EQCP) network, created in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and OMCLs from Latin American and Caribbean countries (2001); and the NOMCoLs in Africa (2009), Middle East/North Africa (2010), and Asia Pacific (2013). These networks provide a forum for collaboration, international partnership, training, science and research advocacy, and data sharing, which are essential components of USP’s capacity-building efforts in these regions.