The United States Pharmacopoeia is a compendium of drugs published every five years by the United States Pharmacopoeial Convention. It forms the basis of enforcement actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the US Drug Enforcement Administration and is the official pharmacopoeia of the U.S.A. and several other nations. Pharmacopoeia (literally, the art of the drug compounder), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of samples and the preparation of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society. ... Look up drug in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is the official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and other healthcare products manufactured and sold in the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Since 1973, the DEA has enforced the drug laws in the United States. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ...
Within the field the compendium is referred to simply as the USP. Indeed the initials USP are affixed to materials' names to indicate that they conform to the specifications in the USP, and may be used medicinally.
USP's contributions to public health are enriched by the participation and oversight of volunteers representing pharmacy, medicine, and other healthcare professions as well as academia, government, the pharmaceutical industry, health plans, and consumer organizations.
USP disseminates its standards to pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacists, and other users through its USP–NF and other publications, official USP Reference Standards materials, and Pharmacopeial Education courses.
USP also partners with the U.S. Agency for International Development in worldwide projects that help to assure drug quality and proper drug use in many developing countries.
Pharmacopoeia (literally, the art of the drug compounder), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of samples and the preparation of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society.
The preparations contained in these three pharmacopoeias were not all uniform in strength, a source of much inconvenience and danger to the public, when powerful preparations such as dilute hydrocyanic acid were ordered in the one country and dispensed according to the national pharmacopoeia in another.
All the pharmacopoeias were issued under the authority of government, and their instructions have the force of law in their respective territories, except that of the UnitedStates, which was prepared by commissioners appointed by medical and pharmaceutical societies, and has no other authority, although generally accepted as the national textbook.