LGC Standards, a UK supplier of laboratory products, has opened its first office in St Petersburg, Russia.
LGC Standards, based in Teddington, Middlesex, provides products and services for measurement and laboratory control encompassing reference material distribution and proficiency testing, together with the production of pharmaceutical impurities and custom synthesis. For the first time the company will be able to support Russian laboratories directly by offering logistical and technical advice in their local language.
The new office will be managed by Svetlana Buchaka, who has a PhD in Chemistry from St Petersburg State University and experience in both the industrial and academic sectors.
Dr Matthias Brommer, director of LGC Standards, said: "While Russia has its own metrological system for chemistry (GOST standards), there is increasing interest in the ISO metrological system widely used in the EU, particularly for those industries seeking export opportunities into this market. With our new office in Russia, LGC Standards will be well placed to support these developments."
Russia has a predicted growth rate in the pharmaceutical sector of 17% per annum to 2013, and this sector will be the initial focus for the Russian team, which will launch LGC Standards" range of 2400 reference standards for pharmaceutical impurities to support quality control.
LGC Standards is part of LGC, whose research and technology division acts as the UK National Measurement Institute for Chemical and Biochemical Measurements.