USP Convention

Since 1820, USP's mission to improve people’s health through quality standards has remained constant. But as the global landscape rapidly evolves, USP is able to stay at the forefront of medicines quality, and positioning science at the core of each transformation, innovation, and disruption thanks in part to the profound impact of the USP Convention.

What is the USP Convention?

More than 200 years ago, a small group of doctors gathered to establish standards for quality that would help ensure that the medicines prescribed were the medicines patients actually received -- regardless of where a patient lived in the country. Out of this history-making moment, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention was born. Since then, the USP Convention has grown significantly and its impact has expanded around the globe, but its purpose remains much the same: to help protect patient safety and strengthen the global supply of quality medicines.

Today, the 450+ Members of the USP Convention – representing nearly 50 countries – help guide USP’s work to address real-world quality challenges. The Convention contributes valuable perspectives that help inform USP’s areas of impact. In addition to ongoing collaboration on critical quality matters, every five years, Convention Members gather for the USP Convention Meeting.

The 2025 USP Convention Meeting

On May 5-8, 2025, hundreds of representatives from across the health and science ecosystem will come together to help launch the next phase of USP’s work to build trust in medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. Convention Members – and the Delegates and Associate Member Representatives they send to the Convention Meeting – are critical to the impact we create together. At the Convention Meeting, attendees participate in critical dialogue and discussions, and Delegates elect the Board of Trustees and Council of Experts and adopt the Resolutions that outline the impact USP will have in the next five-year cycle and beyond.

USP’s 450+ Convention Member organizations represent:

Academic institutions and associations
Nongovernmental standards-setting and conformity assessment bodies
Governmental bodies, divisions, and associations
Manufacturer, trade, and affiliated associations
Consumer and patient organizations
Health practitioner professional and scientific organizations

Council of the Convention

Throughout each five-year cycle, the Council of the Convention represents the full Convention Membership in important leadership, governance, and engagement decisions.

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Convention Membership

With over 450 Member Organizations from around the world, representing the full continuum of the pharmaceutical supply chain, the USP Convention provides a breadth and depth of critical perspectives that help shape and inform USP’s strategic focus.

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Convening, Collaborating and Advancing Public Health

Diverse perspectives. Broad expertise. Deep knowledge. When these elements converge, we can solve bigger challenges and advance more priorities. And the USP Convention has each of these qualities. With members from across the global health and science spectrum and around the world, the Convention’s depth and breadth makes it a powerful force for improving public health. Convention Members contribute to critical dialogue, share input, and co-create content around areas of shared priority, helping strengthen the supply of quality medicines around the world.

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2020 - 2025 Resolutions

The USP Convention Membership adopts Resolutions that help guide USP’s areas of focus throughout its five-year cycle. Each year, USP reports to its Membership, Expert Volunteers, and other stakeholders on its progress against the Resolutions.

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The Convention helps drive USP’s impact

The USP Convention is vital to USP’s ability to sustain its pivotal role in building trust where it matters most: in the world’s medicines, dietary supplements, and foods. Convention Members work together with USP to guide our efforts through challenging and often shifting environments to advocate for strengthening people’s health and patient access to quality medicine and champion resiliency in the global supply chain.

Ensuring a Resilient Supply Chain: A Shared Imperative

USP helps governments, manufacturers, and healthcare practitioners increase the availability of safe, quality medicines throughout the world.

Read the report

The Drug Shortage Task Force

Raising awareness of the causes and harms of shortages, providing insights to inform solutions, and advocating for reforms in a collaborative, productive manner.

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Choosing for Quality in Dietary Supplements

A publication of the USP Convention that provides pharmacists with useful information regarding quality considerations for dietary supplements to pass along to consumers.

Download the fact sheet

Biosimilars: Are they the same quality?

Biosimilars can improve patient access to quality medicines. A resource for understanding the quality of biosimilar products.

Download the infographic

Get involved

For more information about the USP Convention and Convention Membership, please contact membership@usp.org.