January 1 was more than just the start of a new year for USP in 2018. It was the implementation date of two new standards designed to safeguard the global drug supply from potentially toxic impurities – mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead, for example.

When a problem puts millions of lives at risk, costs economies billions of dollars and undermines decades of hard-earned health progress, it deserves prompt and strategic attention. I’m describing the consequences of poor-quality medicines – a worldwide problem that deserves worldwide attention.