History of pharmacy

THis describes history of pharmacy with main emphasis to India.

1. HISTORY OF PHARMACY PRESENTED BY Mr.NARESH GORANTLA , M.Pharm ., ( Ph.D ), Assoc. professor, Balaji college of pharmacy, Anantapuramu

2. GREEKS Greeks were the first patrons of pharmacy profession. They given the word PHARMACY originated from PHARMACON meaning Drug or medicine. Greek Physician named Diascorides wrote a book of 5 volumes on medicine and W as further translated to latin entitled “ De Materia Medica ”

3. Around 300 BC Greek philosopher “ Theoprastus ” studied on plants, herbs, shrubs and was well known as “ Father of Botany ” This was the basis for the study of herbs for their medicinal uses and to treat many diseases. “ Mithridates ” named scientist concentrated on Toxicology and he used to test toxins and their antidotes on himself. He discovered formula for universal antidote “ Mithridatum ”

4. CHINEESE In China, during 168 BC a script named “ Reciepes from 52 ailments ” was obtained from Mawangi tomb.

5. During 1 st century AD, a manuscript called “ Shenong Benaco Jing ” (Divine farmer) dealing with medicinal substance was compiled by Shenong - Father of Chinese medicine. Based on that almost 1500 different herbal drugs have been tested, analysed and used in China.

6. ROMANS Galen (130-200) BC , a great instructor and practitioner of medicine and pharmacy from Rome was the first who formulated cold cream and also extracted therapeutic constituents from plants and was considered as FATHER OF PHARMACY.

7. BHAGDAD The era of pharmacy stores was started during 754 and by 9 th century pharmacy profession was started and regulated by the state govt of Bhagdad . It slowly spread to Europe as Alchemy and finally developed into chemistry.

8. EUROPE Setting of drug stores through out the world. In 12 th century Europe marked the setting up the pharmacy stores. In 1240, King Frederick II recognised the need of pharmacy as a separate profession. In the year 1241, pharmacy stores were established in Germany and after that a rapid development of pharmacy field was noticed in 1800 and early 1900.

9. UNITED STATES 18 th and 19 th century has witnessed many milestones: 1. First USP was published in 1820 2. First pharmacy school was established in Philadelphia

10. 3. In 1852, American pharmacy Association was established. 4. National formulary of America was published in 1888 by American Pharmacy Association which includes: Standards for excipients, Botanicals and similar products.

11. INDIA Developed in 19 th century. Before 19 th century India has a long history of pharmacy when the sources of drugs was vegetables, animals and minerals ( Ayurveda and Siddha ) The trend continued with Arabic and Unani medicines in the era of muslim rule in India.

12. ALLOPATHY Allopathic system in India came with the entry of Britishers who became the rulers of India. Became very popular by the 19 th century.

13. First class of Chemists and Druggists In 1870, a class of chemists and druggists conducted at Madras medical college . The class was aimed as a training programme to gain skills in the practice of pharmacy profession. But not much progress for almost half a century.

14. WORLD WAR-I First impact for the growth of pharmacy in India. During the period of world war, import of drugs was restricted and resumed after the world war. During that period there were no restrictions on the quality of imported drugs and hence the manufacturers of abroad took advantage of these situations.

15. Result of World War-I As a result Dumping of inferior quality of medicines and adulterated drugs Useless and deleterious drugs were sold by unqualified people. To control these situations, Govt of India has posed many Acts, but they were failed in controlling those situations.

16. DRUG ENQUIRY COMMITTEE, 1930 Finally in 1930, Govt of India formed a committee on 11 th August 1930, named “ Drug enquiry committee ” under the chairmanship of Late R.N.Chopra . The first report of this committee was published in 1931, saying that there was no recognised profession of pharmacy, and the pharmacy practice work was carried out by a person called “ Compounder ”.

17. Prof. M.L.Schroff The effect of the report initiated Prof.M.L.Schroff to start pharmacy education at uniiversity level in “ Banaras Hindu University (BHU)” Father of Pharmacy Education in India

18. It was in 1932, B.Pharm course was started at BHU which was industry oriented. In 1944 at Punjab university, Lahore one more course and was oriented towards “Pharmacy Practice”. Though the profession was oriented towards pharmacy practice at the introductory stage, but it became more industry oriented later. This bend lead to the development of modern pharmaceutical industry.

19. Current status of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry 3 rd in terms of volume and 14 th in terms of value.

20. Trending ?? But now in India the pharmacy is going back to from where it started i,.e . PHARMACY PRACTICE The future of pharmacy in India is “Pharmacy practice”