Pharmacopoeia facts for kids

A pharmacopoeia (say: far-ma-koh-PEE-uh) is a special book that contains important rules and information about medicines. It tells you how to identify, prepare, and test different medicines to make sure they are safe and work correctly. Governments or medical groups usually publish these books.

Each description of a medicine in a pharmacopoeia is called a monograph. Think of it as a detailed recipe and quality check for each drug.

What the Word Means

The word "pharmacopoeia" comes from ancient Greek words. Pharmakon means "medicine" or "drug," and poiein means "to make." So, a pharmacopoeia is literally about "making medicine."

Over time, the spelling changed. In British English, it's "pharmacopoeia," and in American English, it's "pharmacopeia." Both mean the same thing!

A Look Back in Time

People have been writing about medicines for a very long time. One of the oldest known works is the Edwin Smith Papyrus from ancient Egypt.

Many early pharmacopoeia books were written by doctors in Persia and Arab countries. For example, Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine in 1025 AD. In China, the Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica) is one of the earliest. It describes 365 medicines from plants, animals, and minerals. Legend says the Chinese god Shennong wrote it!

Pharmacopoeia summaries were also found in the Timbuktu manuscripts in Mali.

Chinese Medicine Books

The oldest Chinese pharmacopoeia we still have, the Shennong Ben Cao Jing, was put together around 200-250 AD. It lists 365 different medicines.

The first official pharmacopoeia in China was created in 659 AD during the Tang dynasty. A team of 23 scientists, led by Su Jing, wrote it. It was called the Xinxiu bencao (Newly Revised Canon of Materia Medica). This huge work had 20 volumes of text and 25 volumes of pictures! It described 850 medicines, including 114 new ones. This book was used across China for 400 years.

Early City Pharmacopoeias

In Europe, cities started making their own medicine books. In 1542, a student named Valerius Cordus showed his collection of medicine recipes to doctors in Nuremberg, Germany. They liked it so much they asked him to print it for all the pharmacists to use.

Another important early book was the Antidotarium Florentinum, published in Florence, Italy, in the 1500s. In 1511, the Society of Apothecaries in Barcelona, Spain, published the Concordie Apothecariorum Barchinone.

The word "Pharmacopoeia" first appeared as a book title in 1561 in Basel, Switzerland.

Before these city books, pharmacists often used older writings by people like Avicenna. These books described basic ingredients and how to prepare them. Some old recipes were very complex, using many ingredients, even strange ones like earthworms or moss from human skulls!

Nicolaes Tulp, a mayor and surgeon in Amsterdam, gathered doctors and chemists in 1636. Together, they wrote the first pharmacopoeia for Amsterdam, called Pharmacopoea Amstelredamensis. They did this to improve public health, especially after a serious illness outbreak, and to make sure all medicine shops were selling good quality products.

London's Medicine Book

In England, pharmacists and grocers used to sell medicines. But in 1617, pharmacists got their own special rules. Only they could prepare doctors' prescriptions. To make sure medicines were made correctly, the Royal College of Physicians published the first official London Pharmacopoeia in 1618.

This first London book had some mistakes, so a new version came out quickly. In those days, medicines often had many ingredients, sometimes 20 to 70 or more! Some ingredients were quite unusual, like certain animal parts or even moss from skulls.

Over the years, new editions of the London Pharmacopoeia were published. In 1721, under Sir Hans Sloane, many old, strange remedies were removed. They also started adding the scientific names for herbal medicines.

A big improvement came in 1746. Only the most effective medicines were kept, and they tried to simplify the old recipes. By 1788, many of the very complex medicines were removed, and more powerful, simpler drugs were included. In 1809, they started using the French way of naming chemicals, which was more modern.

The first Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia was published in 1699, and the first Dublin Pharmacopoeia in 1807.

National Medicine Books

Having different pharmacopoeias in different cities or countries caused problems. For example, a medicine might have different strengths in London and Edinburgh. This could be dangerous!

Because of this, in 1858, a law in Britain said that the General Medical Council should publish one book for all of Great Britain and Ireland. This book was called the British Pharmacopoeia. The first one came out in 1864 and was written in English, not Latin, for the first time.

Today, many countries have their own national pharmacopoeias. For example, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP-NF) sets standards for medicines in the U.S. In the European Union, there's the European Pharmacopoeia, which helps make sure medicines are consistent across many countries.

Working Together Globally

It's hard to make one single pharmacopoeia for the whole world because laws and medical practices are different everywhere. However, groups like the International Council on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) are working to make medicine standards more similar between countries like the EU, Japan, and the U.S.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also created The International Pharmacopoeia (Ph.Int.). This book doesn't replace national pharmacopoeias, but it gives countries a good model to follow when creating their own medicine standards.

How Medicines are Used and Tested

In the past, pharmacopoeias were always printed books. Now, you can find much of this information online too. Because medical knowledge grows so fast, new editions are needed often. These new editions make sure that medicines have a consistent strength and that there are ways to test their purity.

However, it takes several years to create a new edition because many experiments are needed. So, pharmacopoeias are never completely up-to-date with the very newest medicines.

To help with this, other books like Martindale: The complete drug reference are published. These books include information on new remedies and compare the strengths of medicines from different pharmacopoeias. They are very helpful for doctors and pharmacists.

In the UK, a committee of doctors and pharmacists works together to create the British Pharmacopoeia. They gather information from many sources to make sure the book is accurate and useful.

Pharmacopoeias are important legal standards. They help make sure that medicines sold are of high quality. For example, if a medicine is listed in the pharmacopoeia, it must meet the purity and strength standards described in the book. This protects people who use the medicines.

Sometimes, a medicine might have a common trade name and a scientific name. Doctors are encouraged to use the scientific name when writing prescriptions. This helps ensure pharmacists can use the correct, high-quality version of the medicine, even if it's not the most expensive brand.

List of Medicine Books Around the World

Here is a list of some national and international pharmacopoeias:

Images for kids

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  The 1699 Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia

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  Engraved frontispiece of the 1703 Pharmacopoeia Bateana

See also

In Spanish: Farmacopea para niños