Vitamin E produced by Pharmavite under the Nature Made brand has become the first product to be awarded the DSVP certification mark by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an independent quality control group focusing on the pharmaceutical market.
USP set up its Dietary Supplement Verification Programme (DSVP) in November 2001 to help inform and safeguard the growing number of consumers who use dietary supplements. Nature Made was the first supplement brand to be subjected to its rigorous tests.
"We're pleased that Nature Made Vitamin E will be the first product to bear the distinctive DSVP mark," said Tom Zimmerman, Pharmavite vice president for business development. The USP set up the DSVP to help consumers choose products which are guaranteed to contain only the ingredients stated on the label, and in the stated amounts and strengths, which meet the requirements for limits on potential contaminants and which have been manufactured properly by complying with USP and proposed FDA standards for good manufacturing practices (GMPs).
"Obtaining the DSVP certification mark is not easy," said John T. Fowler, chief operating officer at USP. "By passing DSVP's strict criteria, Nature Made vitamin E has proven that it is a quality dietary supplement."
Other Pharmavite vitamins and minerals will now be subjected to the DSVP, followed by the company's multivitamin and multi-mineral supplements.