The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has joined hands with the Telangana government to set up a training institute to help prepare university graduates and pharmaceutical professionals to contribute to a culture of quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing, it was announced on June 29.

USP Hyderabad Training Institute is a collaboration between USP, an independent, scientific non-profit organization that sets quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients, and the state government. The two parties on June 29 signed a formal MoU for the institute, which is designed to help bridge the gap between university programmes and industry best practice, with intensive hands-on training aligned with regulatory guidelines and international medicines quality standards.

USP will invest more than $1 million in establishing the training institute, including building a state-of-the-art laboratory and classrooms at the G. Pulla Reddy College of Pharmacy. The inaugural programme will start next month and the faculty will include experts in the field, as well as guest lectures from USP senior scientific staff and experts in industry and regulation. The institute offer courses on quality control, quality assurance, and research and development, ranging from seven to eight weeks.

The agreement was signed by Telangana's Principal Secretary, IT, Electronics & Communications, Jayesh Ranjan, and USP's Senior Vice President, Global Sites, K.V. Surendranath in the presence of Telangana's Information Technology and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao.

The Telangana government has identified skill development as a critical component of its work to propel the growth of the life sciences sector in the state. "Telangana government is developing the world's largest pharma city, medical devices park and also expanding the most successful life sciences cluster - genome valley 2.0 for rapid growth of pharma and life sciences industry in Hyderabad, and help reemphasize Telangana's position as a leader in life sciences," said Rama Rao.