Regulatory Roundup: USP Announces Two Collaborations.

The US Pharmacopeia (USP) has announced two new collaborations. One involves working with the Republican State Enterprise National Center for Expertise of Drugs, Medical Products and Equipment of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan to share standards for the quality, purity, strength, and identity of medicines. Specifically, the Kazahkhstan center will have a five-year renewable right to include written standards from the USP–National Formulary. Second, USP is joining with six government drug-control laboratories in the Middle East and North Africa to improve their capabilities to test the quality of drugs. Government agencies signing onto the network include: UAE: Health Authority of Abu Dhabi; Egypt: National Organization for Drug Control  Research; Jordan: Drug Quality Control Laboratory, Jordan Food and Drug Administration; Morocco: Direction de Médicament Et de la Pharmacie; Saudi Arabia: Products Evaluation and Standards-setting and National Drug and Cosmetic Control Laboratories (NDCCL) in Drug Sector, Saudi Food and Drug Authority; and Tunisia: Laboratoire National de Controle des Medicaments.