New building will ensure continuity in pharmaceutical reference standards supply

The first stone of a new secondary site for the Council of Europe’s European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) has been laid.

The new site will be used to store the EDQM’s portfolio of over 3 000 pharmaceutical reference standards, as an addition to those already in stock at the main building in Strasbourg.

Reference standards are fundamental to test the quality of medicines and therefore allow the release of the thousands of batches of medicines that are put on the world markets every day, while ensuring a continuous supply.

Based in Metz, north-eastern France, this site will be key to ensure the sustainability and continuity of the EDQM’s public health protection mission, in the case for instance of problems affecting the Strasbourg site.