Pictured: Professor Hicham Nejmi, General Secretary of MOH; Professor Jamal Taoufik, Director of Medicines and Pharmacy, MOH; and Professor Bouchra Meddah, Head Division of National Laboratory for Medicines Control, DMP, MOH.
Morocco’s national drug control laboratory retains the World Health Organization’s (WHO) status of prequalification, certifying the reliability of the lab’s analyses and technical competence of its staff and allowing international recognition of the services it performs to help ensure medicine quality. USP provided technical support as the laboratory underwent the stringent assessment of its quality management system in March 2018, which included how tests are performed and documented, data integrity, lab equipment, and monitoring of the lab’s environmental conditions.
“Earning and retaining the WHO’s prequalification designation is critical to Morocco’s efforts to help ensure its population has access to quality medicines,” said Emily Kaine, USP senior vice president, recognizing Morocco’s commitment to quality medicines. “USP was honored to provide technical assistance to help the laboratory meet this important standard.”
USP’s work with Morocco’s national control laboratory is part of the organization’s support for the network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCL), which provides these labs with a forum for sharing best practices on medicines quality issues at regional and national levels. The implementation of technical assistance was supported by the Global Fund.