// July 15, 2014

Quality Matters – USP’s New Online Voice

Thank you for taking the time to visit USP’s new blog, “Quality Matters.”

The name reflects our mission – that the quality of medicines, food ingredients and dietary supplements can have a profound impact on public health.  Equally important, our goal is to use the blog to address matters of interest with posts that foster quality discussions.

Our intent is to provide a new online voice for USP, showcasing the unique viewpoints, ideas and contributions of our global family of employees, volunteer experts and member organizations.

We are committed and passionate about telling the USP story. The integrity of medicines, food and dietary supplements can have a substantive impact on public health around the world and for nearly 200 years USP has been a neutral scientific voice and advocate for quality.

Through this blog we plan to explore topics such as:

  • Quality of our pharmaceuticals;
  • Biologics and biosimilars;
  • Identity of food ingredients and dietary supplements;
  • Impurities in medicines and foods and how they are defined and addressed;
  • USP’s global work to curb substandard and counterfeit medicines and;
  • The challenges we face in the future.

From quality-related science and research, to field work and consumer tips, our hope is to address a universe of issues – all linked together by a common theme, that the quality of these items has an impact on our lives.

As we launch this new communications channel we also mark the end of our traditional newsletter, The Standard, but we view this as an opportunity gained rather than something that has been lost.

Our new online platform gives us the opportunity to bring USP developments and stories to your attention as they happen, rather than waiting until the next quarterly publication deadline.  Our goal is to bring you all the material we would traditionally cover in the newsletter, along with new commentary, personal insights and contributions from a wider group of voices.

We look forward to your participation in the “Quality Matters” community, and hope that you contribute and share your thoughts on a regular basis.

We are already working with a number of USP scientists and staff members on upcoming posts, but we are always open to new ideas or suggestions. If you have a topic that you would like to highlight, or a concept that you feel we should be exploring, feel free to contact the USP team at social@usp.org, or you can reach me personally at nhf@usp.org. We hope you enjoy this latest effort to tell the “USP story” and look forward to your comments and contributions.

Subscribe to the Quality Matters RSS feed to receive our latest content.

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen is Director of External Communications for the U.S.Pharmacopeial Convention (USP).