List of Pharmacopoeia

Pharmacopoeia means ″drug-making″ or ″to make a drug″. This word derives from the ancient Greek (pharmakopoiia), from (pharmako) ″drug″, followed by the verb-stem (poi) ″make″ and finally the abstract noun ending (-ia).

Pharmacopoeia is an official publication describing drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations as well as containing directions for compound identification. The word ‘Pharmacopoeia’ is widely used and common spelling but ‘Pharmacopeia’ is used only in USP.

• Pharmacopoeia: British spelling
• Pharmacopeia: American spelling

Remember that, a detailed written study of a single specialized subject is called a monograph. A monograph contains but not limited to the name of the ingredient, the definition, preparation, storage, packaging, and labeling requirements; and the specifications. The specification contains a series of tests, procedures for the tests, and acceptance criteria. Here is a list of pharmacopoeia:

List of Pharmacopoeia

A. United States Pharmacopeia

Its INN system symbol is USP. The USP is issued in combination with the National Formulary as the USP-NF. The USP is an official compendium for drugs marketed in the U.S. and annually published by the United States Pharmacopeial Convention. To avoid probable charges of adulteration and misbranding, a drug product in the U.S.A. market must conform to the standards in USP–NF.

The USP provides monographs for drug substances, compounded preparations, and dosage forms are presented in the USP. Monographs for dietary supplements and ingredients are presented in a distinct section of the USP. The USP-NF contains excipient monographs.

On 15th December 1820, the first edition of United States Pharmacopeia was published in both English and Latin. It was published annually since 2002. The First National Formulary of the U.S. appeared in 1888. In 1992, the electronic version of USP-NF on floppy disks was introduced. USP has laboratories in India, Brazil, China, and the United States.

B. British Pharmacopoeia

Its INN system symbol is BP. Since 1864, BP has been supplying official standards for medicines. It consisted of two sections.

• Part I: – Materia Medica
• Part II: – Preparation & compounds

In 1953, the eighth edition of BP was published. In this edition, titles of drugs and preparations were in English in lieu of Latin and metric systems. Annually BP has been published. In BP 2007 monographs have been presented for material specifically used in the preparation of Traditional Chinese medicines.

The term “Gastro-resistant” has been substituted with “Enteric coated” and the term “Prolonged release” has been substituted for the term “Slow” in the number of monographs. The Pharmacopoeial Secretariat working in collaboration with the British Pharmacopoeia Commission (BPC), the British Pharmacopoeia Laboratory, and its Expert Advisory Groups (EAG) and Advisory Panels has been publishing the British Pharmacopoeia.

C. European Pharmacopoeia

Its INN system symbol is Ph. Eur. It is Europe’s legal and scientific benchmark for pharmacopoeial standards. It helps to deliver high-quality medicines in Europe and beyond. European Pharmacopoeia is a published collection of monographs that describe active and inactive ingredients, methods of analysis for medicines, descriptions of reagents, animal, human or herbal origin, homeopathic stocks, and homeopathic preparations, antibiotics, vaccines as well as dosage forms and containers. It also contains texts on biologicals, blood and plasma derivatives, and radiopharmaceutical preparations. In 1969, the first edition of the Ph. Eur. was published which consisted of 120 texts.

• Book Version: Available in English or French.
• Online Version:  Cumulative, tablet, and smartphone friendly. Bilingual (English and French).
• Downloadable version:   Cumulative and bilingual (English and French).

D. International Pharmacopoeia

The International Pharmacopoeia has been published by the World Health Organization (WHO). Its INN system symbol is Ph. Int. In 1951, the first volume of International Pharmacopoeia was published. The International Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Int.) constitutes a collection of recommended procedures for analysis and specifications for the determination of pharmaceutical substances and dosage forms that are intended to serve as source material for reference or adaptation by any WHO Member State wishing to establish pharmaceutical requirements. The Eighth Edition of The International Pharmacopoeia was published in 2018.

 E. Japanese Pharmacopoeia

Its INN system symbol is JP. The JP (日本薬局方) is the official pharmacopeia of Japan. Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency under the authority of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have been published JP. The first edition was published on 25 June 1886, with revisions being issued from time to time. The current revision is number 17, issued electronically in the English language on 7 March 2016. On 25 June 1886, JP was first published and implemented in July 1887 and issued electronically in the English language on 7 March 2016 and JP has been revised periodically.

F. Indian Pharmacopoeia

Its INN system symbol is JP. The IP is the official pharmacopoeia of India. Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has published IP under the authority of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. For manufacturing, and selling medicine in the Indian market IPC sets standards.

IP-2018 contains 4 Volumes incorporating 220 new monographs (Chemical Monographs (170), Herbal Monographs (15), Veterinary monographs (14), Blood and Blood-related products (10), Biotechnology-Derived Therapeutic Products (06), Radiopharmaceutical monographs (03), Vaccines and Immunosera for Human use monographs (02)) as well as 366 revised monographs and 7 omissions.

G. Chinese Pharmacopoeia

 Its INN system symbol is ChP. The Pharmacopoeia Commission under the authority of the Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China has published the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China (PPRC) or ChP. ChP is an official compendium of drugs covering traditional Chinese and Western medicines, which includes information but not limited to description, the standards of purity, test, precaution, storage, strength, and dosage for each drug. Also, it is recognized as the official Chinese pharmacopoeia by the WHO.

• Monographs of Volume I deal with Chinese material medica and pared slice, Chinese traditional patent medicines, vegetable oil/fat, and its extract, single ingredients of Chinese crude drug preparations etc.
• Monographs of Volume II contain antibiotics, chemical drugs, biochemical preparations, Radiopharmaceuticals as well as excipients for pharmaceutical use.
• Monographs of Volume III deal with biological products.

 H. Others Pharmacopoeia

1. French Pharmacopoeia
2. Brazilian Pharmacopoeia
3. Czech Pharmacopoeia
4. Mexican Pharmacopoeia
5. Royal Spanish Pharmacopoeia

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