SOURCES OF PHARMACEUTICAL INFORMATION

1-Pharmacopeias Pharmacopoeia is a book containing an official list of the drugs used in medicine together with information about purity, and physical and chemical properties, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society. - There are national and international pharmacopoeias:

1-Pharmacopeias (Cont.): 1- International Pharmacopoeia: - The aim of The International Pharmacopoeia, which is issued by the World Health Organization as a recommendation, is to achieve a wide global uniformity of quality specifications for selected pharmaceutical products, excipients, and dosage forms. - Priority is given to medicines that are widely used throughout the world. High priority is accorded to medicines that are important to WHO health programs, and which may not appear in any other pharmacopoeias, e.g. new antimalarial drugs. - The first volume of the International Pharmacopoeia was produced in 1951.

1-Pharmacopeias (Cont.): 2- National Pharmacopoeia: A National Pharmacopoeia is a book containing a list of standards for drugs and excepients that are approved for prescription throughout the country.

National Pharmacopeias (Cont.): A- United States Pharmacopoiea (USP): - It is the official pharmacopoeia of the United States and many other nations. - It is a compendium of quality control tests for drugs and excipients to be introduced into a medicinal formulation, and includes methods for, identification, assay, and purity determination of a drug substance or excipient.

National Pharmacopeias (Cont.): B- National Formulary: - It is a manual containing a list of medicines that are approved for prescription throughout the country. It includes key information on the composition, description, selection, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines.

National Pharmacopeias (Cont.): C- United States Pharmacopoeia-National Formulary (USP-NF): -It is a book of public pharmacopeial standards. It contains standards for medicines, dosage forms, drug substances, excipients, medical devices, and dietary supplements. -It is a single–volume combination of two official compendia, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the National Formulary (NF).

National Pharmacopeias (Cont.): D- British Pharmacopoeia (BP): - It is a collection of quality standards for UK medicinal substances. - It consists of two parts, both in alphabetical order. - Part I, listed monographs for the therapeutic agents, giving details of material sources, characteristics, relevant preparations containing the substance in question and chemical tests. - Part II, listed preparations and compounds considered to be of therapeutic importance. Collected appendices contained details of information required in the practice of pharmacy, including symbols, weights and measures and substances and equipment used in medicines preparations and analysis.

National Pharmacopeias (Cont.): E- British Pharmaceutical Codex (BPC): -It was first published in 1907, to supplement the British Pharmacopoeia which although extensive, did not cover all the medicinal items that a pharmacist might require in their daily work. - It contains monographs on medicinal substances of chemical, vegetable and animal origin. Details of these substances, including sources, histology and chemical composition, details for tests, information on mechanisms of action and uses, formulae for preparations are included. Surgical dressings are included in a separate section. - The text was arranged with substances in alphabetical order.

2- Merck Index: -The Merck Index is an encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs and biologicals with over 10,000 monographs on single substances or groups of related compounds. It also includes an appendix with monographs on organic name reactions. -It is published by the United States pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.

3- Martindale: The complete drug reference: - It contains information on drugs in clinical use worldwide, disease treatment reviews, as well as selected investigational and veterinary drugs, herbal and complementary medicines, pharmaceutical excipients, vitamins and nutritional agents, vaccines, radiopharmaceuticals, contrast media and diagnostic agents, medicinal gases, drugs of abuse and toxic substances, disinfectants, and pesticides. - It provides a useful source of information for patients arriving from abroad to identify their existing medication.