Mumbai: Quintiles announced that its central laboratory in Mumbai, India, has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists 15189SM Accreditation Program, becoming the first laboratory in Asia to receive this accreditation and meet the program's rigorous requirements for medical laboratory quality and competence established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

"This accreditation is further evidence of Quintiles' commitment to deliver high quality, harmonized test results to our biopharma customers globally," said Mr Thomas Wollman, senior vice president, Quintiles Global Laboratories. "Quintiles has the world's largest CAP-accredited central laboratory network. We also believe we are the world's best."

CAP 15189SM is a voluntary, non-regulatory accreditation to the ISO 15189:2007 Standard and complements CAP accreditation and other quality systems. The program optimizes processes to improve patient care, strengthens quality standards while reducing institutional errors and risks and controls costs.

CAP Council on Accreditation chairman, Mr Richard Gomez, said, "Our goal with the CAP15189 Accreditation Program is to improve patient care, mitigate risk, optimize performance, and advance quality for medical laboratory testing. The CAP, as it did more than 50 years ago with laboratory accreditation, is breaking new ground with our program devoted to ISO 15189."

Mr Anil Raghavan, managing director, Quintiles India, said, "The accreditation focuses on the continuum of care directly connected with improved patient safety and risk reduction. We are proud to be the first Asia Pacific lab to receive this accreditation, which reflects our commitment to establishing best-in-class practices in the industry."