The books containing the standards for drugs and other related substances are known as pharmacopoeia and formularies – collectively these books are known as the drug compendia. These books are prepared under the authority of the Government of the respective countries.
The word “pharmacopoeia” is derived from the Greek words ‘pharmacon’ meaning ‘drug’ and poieo’ means ‘make’. Literally it means that it is a list of medicinal substances, crude drugs and formulae for making preparations from them.
History of Indian Pharmacopoeia
The historical developments of Pharmacopoeia in India traces back to 1563 and the
credit goes to Garcia da Orta a Portugese physician-cum-teacher. The idea of indigeneous Indian Pharmacopoeia was concieved in 1837 which bore fruits in 1841 in the shape of Bengal Pharmacopoeia and Conspectus of Drugs. The hindustani version in Bengali and Hindi of London Pharmacopoeia was made available in India from 1901 onwards.
The Indian Pharmacopoeial List, published in 1946 formed the seeding for the true Official Indian Pharmacopoeia published in 1955. The first edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia was published in 1955, but actually the process was started as early as 1944. In 1944 Government of India asked the Drugs Technical Advisory Board to prepare the list of drugs used, in India, having sufficient medicinal value to justify their inclusion in official pharmacopoeia.
The Indian Pharmacopoeial List, 1946
The list of drugs both included and not included in the British Pharmacopoeia along with standards to secure their usefulness, tests for identity and purity was prepared by the committee and was published by the Government of India under the name ‘The Indian Pharmacopoeial List 1946’.
The committee constituted under the chairmanship of Col. Sir R.N.Chopra along with
other nine members, prepared the list of drugs with the following details:
Substances included in the British Pharmacopoeia for crude drugs, chemicals and their
preparations. Substances not included in the British pharmacopoeia
- Drugs of plant origin
- Drugs of animal origin
- Biological products
- Insecticides
- Colouring agents
- Synthetics
- Miscellaneous
- Drugs for veterinary use.
The Indian Pharmacopoeial List 1946 was prepared by Department of Health, Govt. of India
in 1946.
Indian Pharmacopoeia Editions
First Edition (1955)
- Indian Pharmacopeia committee under chairmanship of Dr. B. N. Ghosh Published first edition of IP in 1955.
- It is written in English & official titles of monographs given in Latin.
- It covers 986 monographs.
- Supplement to this edition was published in 1960.
Second Edition (1966)
- Second edition of IP was published in 1966 under the chairmanship of Dr. B. Mukkerji. Official titles of monographs given in English.
- Dose were expressed in Metric system. For Tablets and Injections “USUAL STRENGTH” have been given.
- Formulations of the drugs were given immediately after the monograph of drugs.
- 274 monographs from IP 55 & their supplement were deleted & 93 new monographs were added.
- Supplement to this edition was published in 1975.
- 126 new monographs have been included & 250 monographs have been amended.
Third Edition (1985)
- Third edition of IP was published in 1985 under the chairmanship of P. K. Pradhan, with two volumes & nine appendices.
- 261 new monographs have been added.
- 450 monographs were deleted.
- Addendum I to IP was published in 1989 were 46 new monographs added and 126 amended.
- Addendum II was published in 1991 were 62 new monographs added and 110 amended.
Fourth edition (1996)
- Fourth edition of IP was published in 1996 under the chairmanship of Dr. Nityanand.
- It has been made effective from 1st December 1996.
- It covered 1149 monographs and 123 appendices.
- It includes 294 new monographs & 110 monographs have been deleted.
- Addendum I has been made effective from 31st December 2000 were 42 new monographs have been added.
- Addendum II has been made effective from 30th June 2003 were 19 new monographs have been added.
- The veterinary supplement to IP 1996 contains 208 monographs & four appendices.
Fifth edition (2007)
- Fifth edition of IP was published in 2007 by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) Ghaziabad.
- Addendum to this edition was published in 2008.
- IP 2007 is presented in Three Volumes.
- Volume One contains general notices & general chapters.
- Volume Two & Three contains general monographs on drug substances, dosage
forms & Pharmaceutical aids.
Sixth edition (2010)
- 6th editionof IP is published in 2010 by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) Ghaziabad.
- The Indian Pharmacopoeia 2010 is presented in three volumes.
- Volume I contains the Notices, Preface, theStructure of the IPC, Acknowledgements, Introduction, and the General Chapters.
- Volume II contains the General Notice, General Monographs on Dosage Forms and Monographs on drug substances, dosage forms and pharmaceutical aids (A to M).
- Volume III contains Monographs on drug substances, dosage forms and pharmaceutical aids (N to Z).
- Followed by Monographs on Vaccines and Immunosera for Human use, Herbs and Herbal products, Blood and blood- related products, Biotechnology products and Veterinary products.
Seventh edition (2014)
- The seventh edition of the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP 2014) is published by the
Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) on behalf of the Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. - The Indian Pharmacopoeia 2014 is presented in four volumes. The scope of the Pharmacopoeia has been extended to include additional anticancer drugs & antiretroviral drugs and formulations, products of biotechnology, indigenous herbs and herbal products, veterinary vaccines.
- The IP 2014 incorporates 2550 monographs of drugs out of which 577 are new monographs consisting of APIs, excipients, dosage forms and herbal products etc.
Eighth edition (2018)
- The eighth edition of the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP 2018) is published by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) on behalf of the Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
- The new edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia has been brought out in 4 Volumes incorporating 220 new monographs, 366 revised monographs and 7 omissions.
Ninth edition (2022)
The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) launched the ninth edition of the Indian Pharmacopoeia in Delhi last month in the presence of Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Health Minister, Dr Bharti Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State and Dr Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary, Government of India.
- Four countries – Afghanistan, Ghana, Nepal and Mauritius- have accepted IP as a book of standards.
- IP 2022 contains a total of 92 new monographs, including 60 chemical, 21 vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, etc., three biotechnology-derived therapeutic products, four human vaccines, two blood and blood-related products, two herbs and herbal-related products, and seven phytopharmaceutical ingredient category monographs.
- The total number of 3,152 monographs in the current edition of IP. In addition, 12 new general chapters have also been introduced.
| Edition | Year | Volume | Addendum/Supplement |
| 1st Edition | 1955 | – | Supplement 1960 |
| 2nd Edition | 1966 | – | Supplement 1975 |
| 3rd Edition | 1985 | 2 | Addendum 1989 Addendum 1991 |
| 4th Edition | 1996 | 2 | Addendum 2000 Vet Supplement 2000 Addendum 2002 Addendum 2005 |
| 5th Edition | 2007 | 3 | Addendum 2008 |
| 6th Edition | 2010 | 3 | Addendum 2012 |
| 7th Edition | 2014 | 4 | Addendum 2015 Addendum 2016 |
| 8th Edition | 2018 | 4 | Addendum 2019 Addendum 2021 |
| 9th Edition | 2022 |
