Singapore: Waters Corporation, in association with the Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission (ChP) has established a Joint Open Laboratory that aims to produce the first official compendium of drugs, covering Traditional Chinese and Western medicines, and provide information on the standards of purity, description, test, dosage, precautions, storage, and strength.

The analytical laboratory will be jointly operated by the ChP and Waters. The laboratory is anticipated to play a role as one of the national technical support centers in the field of Chinese pharmaceutical standards, apart from focusing on in-depth research of pharmacopoeia standards, development of testing methods, methods validations and basic and advanced technical training of pharmacopoeia detection methods.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, held in Beijing on Jan 28, Mr Mike Harrington, vice president, Waters Asia Pacific noted, ""Our cooperation with ChP to open and operate this cooperative laboratory in China reflects our commitment to consistently push the boundaries of what's possible by helping to bring more resources to bear that enable innovations in China's pharmaceutical and biopharma industries."

Sprawling across 400 sq m, the lab is located within the laboratory building of the Beijing Zhendong Guangming Drug Research Institute. Equipped with Waters' chromatography and mass spectrometry technologies, the facility is set to support Pharmacopeia standards in China.