USP opens office in Europe

The US Pharmacopeia (USP), the world's largest provider of primary reference standards for pharmaceutical and dietary supplement manufacturers, has opened an office in Basel, Switzerland, and appointed Peter Bippus to be director of sales.

USP Reference Standards are developed with the involvement of the pharmaceutical industry and the US FDA. Currently, USP offers more than 1,800 reference standards for pharmaceuticals, excipients, and dietary supplements. USP employs rigorous review processes and quality control checks to ensure Reference Standards of the highest quality and integrity.

In addition, more than 4,000 standards monographs are published in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and National Formulary (NF), the official US drug standards compendia, recognised around the world. These standards are enforceable by FDA and have been adopted by the governments of other countries.

'Our office in Basel and our account managers in Europe will provide customers with the full range of USP solutions for assuring the quality of their medicines,' said John T. Fowler, USP's chief business officer. 'We want to work closely with pharmaceutical companies in Europe and believe this office will give us the ability to provide a broad array of services to support all of our customers' needs.'

Bippus will direct the USP Europe office, which will also support USP's network of distributors in the Middle East and Africa. Since 2000, he has been a member of the board and head of the business unit for Europe and Asia for Swiss company Sotax. Prior to that, he was director of sales and business development for Medartis in Basel.