The latest face-to-face meeting of the Pharmacopoeial Discussion Group (PDG) [European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)] was hosted by JP in Tokyo, Japan on 1-2 October 2019. WHO participated as observer. The PDG 30th Anniversary Symposium was also held on 3 October 2019.