日志

美国药典溯源

已有 146 次阅读2023-2-8 17:15 |个人分类:医药历史

Beginning in the 16th century, several pharmacopoeias containing medical prescriptions were prepared for apothecaries and physicians in important cities of Europe, including Nuremburg, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. In the 19th century, it was recognized that there were inconsistencies in the information contained in the various pharmacopoeias which then existed. As a result, there was an emerging focus on efforts to standardize and harmonize the content in the pharmacopoeias.

In 1820, concerned about the dangers of poor quality medicines in America, a group of physicians met in the Senate Chamber of the U.S. Capitol building to establish a pharmacopeia for the United States, which contained formulas for the preparation of 217 drugs considered to be the “most fully established and best understood” at the time. Information contained in the preface to the first edition of the USP provides an early reference to the historical purpose, value, and usefulness of the pharmacopoeias, which also provides interesting perspectives for today. Another early example of the need for pharmacopoeial harmonization was the creation of the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) in 1858 to overcome the inconveniences and dangers resulting from the existence of three different pharmacopeias in the United Kingdom and Ireland, those of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.