The British National Formulary (BNF) is a United Kingdom (UK) pharmaceutical reference book that contains a wide spectrum of information and advice on prescribing and pharmacology, along with specific facts and details about many medicines available on the UK National Health Service (NHS). Information within the BNF includes indication(s), contraindications, side effects, doses, legal classification, names and prices of available proprietary and generic formulations, and any other notable points. Though it is a national formulary, it nevertheless also includes entries for some medicines which are not available under the NHS, and must be prescribed and/or purchased privately. A symbol clearly denotes such drugs in their entry.
A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea, in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society.
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is a pharmacopeia for the United States published annually by the over 200-year old United States Pharmacopeial Convention, a nonprofit organization that owns the trademark and also owns the copyright on the pharmacopeia itself.
The apothecaries' system, or apothecaries' weights and measures, is a historical system of mass and volume units that were used by physicians and apothecaries for medical prescriptions and also sometimes by scientists. The English version of the system is closely related to the English troy system of weights, the pound and grain being exactly the same in both. It divides a pound into 12 ounces, an ounce into 8 drachms, and a drachm into 3 scruples of 20 grains each. This exact form of the system was used in the United Kingdom; in some of its former colonies, it survived well into the 20th century. The apothecaries' system of measures is a similar system of volume units based on the fluid ounce. For a long time, medical recipes were written in Latin, often using special symbols to denote weights and measures.
The Bencao gangmu, known in English as the Compendium of Materia Medica or Great Pharmacopoeia, is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the late 16th century, during the Ming dynasty. Its first draft was completed in 1578 and printed in Nanjing in 1596. The Compendium lists the materia medica of traditional Chinese medicine known at the time, including plants, animals, and minerals that were believed to have medicinal properties.
The British Pharmacopoeia (BP) is the national pharmacopoeia of the United Kingdom. It is an annually published collection of quality standards for medicinal substances in the UK, which is used by individuals and organisations involved in pharmaceutical research, development, manufacture and testing.
Ichthammol or ammonium bituminosulfonate, also known as black ointment, is a medication derived from sulfur-rich oil shale. It is used as a treatment for different skin diseases, including eczema and psoriasis. It is applied on the skin as an ointments, most commonly containing 10% or 20% ichthammol.
The European Pharmacopoeia is a major regional pharmacopoeia which provides common quality standards throughout the pharmaceutical industry in Europe to control the quality of medicines, and the substances used to manufacture them. It is a published collection of monographs which describe both the individual and general quality standards for ingredients, dosage forms, and methods of analysis for medicines. These standards apply to medicines for both human and veterinary use.
William Salmon (1644–1713) was an English empiric doctor and a writer of medical texts. He advertised himself as a "Professor of Physick". Salmon held an equivocal place in the medical community. He led apothecaries in opposing attempts by physicians to control the dispensing of medicines, and was derided by physicians as "the King of the Quacks". He has been described as "a brilliant publicist, but not much of a philosopher".
Samuel Frederick Gray was a British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist. He was the father of the zoologists John Edward Gray and George Robert Gray.
The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) is a Directorate and partial agreement of the Council of Europe that traces its origins and statutes to the Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia.
Phenoxymethylpenicillin, also known as penicillin V (PcV) and penicillin VK, is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. Specifically it is used for the treatment of strep throat, otitis media, and cellulitis. It is also used to prevent rheumatic fever and to prevent infections following removal of the spleen. It is given by mouth.
The Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (PPRC) or the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP), compiled by the Pharmacopoeia Commission of the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China, is an official compendium of drugs, covering Traditional Chinese and western medicines, which includes information on the standards of purity, description, test, dosage, precaution, storage, and the strength for each drug.
Warburg's tincture was a pharmaceutical drug, now obsolete. It was invented in 1834 by Dr. Carl Warburg.
The history of pharmacy as a modern and independent science dates back to the first third of the 19th century. Before then, pharmacy evolved from antiquity as part of medicine. Before the advent of pharmacists, there existed apothecaries that worked alongside priests and physicians in regard to patient care.
Agnes Borrowman was a Scottish pharmaceutical chemist. In 1924 she became the first woman to serve on the Pharmaceutical Society's Board of Examiners.
Bishnupada Mukerjee or Bishnupada Mukhopadhyaya was an Indian pharmacologist and orthopedic surgeon, known for his contributions in the fields of pharmacological research and standardization of drugs in India. The Government of India honoured him in 1962, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.
The Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) is a collection of internationally recognized standards for the purity and identity of food ingredients.
Jeffrey Kenneth Aronson is a British physician and clinical pharmacologist, currently working in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford.
Tang Shenwei, courtesy name Shenyuan, was a Chinese physician of the Song dynasty. He compiled an influential pharmacopoeia, Zhenglei bencao (證類本草).
