The United States Pharmacopeia of USP
Date: 2021-08-20Read: 38
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes quality standards for prescription and over-the-counter drugs, food supplements, and other health products, and collaborates with healthcare institutions to help them meet these standards. Since their establishment 185 years ago, these standards have been contributing to ensuring access to high-quality pharmaceutical services around the world.
USP is the statutory public standard setting body in the United States, and these standard substances are recognized and used in over 130 countries worldwide.
USP is an independent public health organization based on science. As a self-sufficient non-profit organization, USP's funding comes from the sale of products and services aimed at ensuring that the public has access to high-quality pharmaceutical services.
With the active participation and supervision of professional volunteers, USP's contribution to the public health industry is also increasing. These volunteers represent the healthcare industry, as well as academia, government departments, pharmaceutical industry, health planning, and consumer organizations. Product Quality - Standards and Certification
USP establishes public standards to ensure the excellent quality of pharmaceuticals, food supplements, and health-related products. According to federal law, prescription and over-the-counter drugs used in the United States must comply with USP's public standards wherever such standards apply.
In order to ensure the quality of pharmaceuticals and related products, many other countries also require the adoption of high-quality standards, such as USP standards. USP disseminates its standards to manufacturers, pharmacists, and other users through the National Formulary (USP-NF) and other publications, legal USP standard substance materials, and professional education courses.
USP also hosts certification programs for food supplement ingredients and products. These plans involve independent testing and review aimed at certifying the integrity, purity, and specifications of ingredients and products for participating manufacturers. USP operates two programs to provide safer care for patients who are taking medication and hospitalized. The medication error reporting program allows medical professionals to directly report medication errors to USP. MEDMARX ® It is an Internet based drug error and adverse drug reaction reporting procedure for hospitals and health systems. USP also leverages its knowledge advantage to provide information to the healthcare industry, supporting its research and development of patient safety protocols.