An Introduction to BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA/BP:

The British Pharmacopoeia is published on behalf of the Health Ministers of the United Kingdom; on the recommendation of the Commission on Human Medicines.

In the year 1864 the first British Pharmacopoeia was published by combining the three old and reputed Pharmacopoeias namely Pharmacopoeia Londinensis (1618) Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia (1699) and Dublin Pharmacopoeia (1807). New editions and addendum was released quickly. The 2nd edition was released in 1867. The 3rd and 4th edition was published in the year 1885 and 1898 respectively. Addendum to 2nd and 3rd edition was released in the year 1874 and 1890 respectively.

Edition of BP	Publication Years
1^st edition	1864
2^nd edition	1867
3^rd	1890
4^th edition	1898
5^th	1914
6^th	1928
7^th edition	1932
8^th edition	1953
9^th edition	1958
10^th edition	1963
13^th edition	1980

Edition of BP

Separate parts such as preparation of compounds are included in the 1864 British Pharmacopoeia. As per practice of several other Pharmacopoeias in this edition of British Pharmacopoeia the contents had been arranged alphabetically. A gap in revision belated the next edition of British Pharmacopoeia until 1914.

In Britain it was realized that technical complexity of the drug specifications was increasing and a different kind of set up was needed to prepare the Pharmacopoeias after publication of the British Pharmacopoeia 1914. Hence the further edition was published in 1928 and 1932. There after the commission was recommended to revise the British Pharmacopoeia every ten years once.

A range of diagnostic materials was included in 1932 revision. An important addition was inclusion of standards and tests for antitoxins and insulin. Seven addenda covered the interim between 1932 and next edition of 1948. In this 1948 edition (7th), for substances newly introduced into medicine, generic names were provided. Methods of analysis such as disintegration tests for tablets and sterilization methods were expanded. Many new monographs related to sex hormones and penicillin’s were included. Due to the rapid development of pharmaceutical and pharmacological progress at this time it was decided that the normal interval between new editions should be five instead of ten years.

The next edition was released in the year 1953. In this edition of British Pharmacopoeia, the titles of drugs and preparations were given in English instead of Latin. Abbreviated Latin title was retained as a synonym. Capsules, constituted as new group of formulation and the implant methods for sex hormones and their standards were also described in this edition. The 9th edition (1958) contains 160 new monographs. Spectrophotometric analysis and inclusion of tranquillizing drugs are the other features of this edition. The next i.e., tenth edition was published in 1963.

The duties of the British Pharmacopoeia commission were defined clearly in medicines order 1970. The first edition of British Pharmacopoeia that was prepared strictly under the provisions of Medicines Act was the thirteenth edition which was published in the year 1980. Due to an expansion of drug information latter the British Pharmacopoeia was decided to publish in two volumes.

Authoritative standard for the quality of many substances preparation and articles used in medicine and pharmacy for some 130 years was provided in 1993 edition of British Pharmacopoeia. For the convenience of user this edition consolidates and extends the 1988 edition with its 1989, 1991, and 1992 addenda. Moreover monographs of the European Pharmacopoeia were also included in this particular edition.

British Pharmacopoeia 2013 comprises six volumes which contain nearly 3,000 monographs for drug substances, excipients and formulated preparation, together with supporting general notices, appendices (test methods, reagents etc.) and reference spectra used in the practice of medicine. All are comprehensively indexed and cross-referenced for easy reference. Items used exclusively in veterinary medicine in the UK are included in the BP (Veterinary).

The volume I and II deals with medicinal substances, whereas volume III describes about formulated preparations, blood related preparations, immunological products, radiopharmaceutical preparations, surgical materials and homeopathic preparations. The volume IV contains appendices, infrared reference spectra and index. The volume V is for veterinary purpose i.e., British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary). The volume VI is the CD-ROM version of British Pharmacopoeia, British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary) and British approved names.

The 2013 edition of British Pharmacopoeia is available as a printed volume and electronically in both on line and CD-ROM versions, the electronic products use sophisticated search techniques to locate information quickly. For example, pharmacists referring to a monograph can immediately link to other related substances and appendices referenced in the content by using 1,30,000 plus hypertext links within the text.

The British Pharmacopoeia 2013 package comprises five volumes of the British Pharmacopoeia 2013 and a single volume of the British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary) 2013, along with a fully searchable CD-ROM and online access which provided flexible resources.

The British Pharmacopoeia 2013 was legally effective from 1 January 2013 and contains 41 new British Pharmacopoeia monographs, 40 new European Pharmacopoeia monographs, 619 amended monographs, 6 new and 1 amended infrared reference spectra and European Pharmacopoeia 7th edition material up to and including Supplement 7.5. In addition updates in January, April and July to harmonise with the European Pharmacopoeia was also provided.

The current edition of the British Pharmacopoeia i.e., British Pharmacopoeia 2022 comprises five volumes and a single volume of the British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary) 2014, along with a fully searchable CD-ROM and online access to provide with flexible resources.

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