Historyof Pharmacy
Historyof Pharmacy
Historyof Pharmacy
Presented by
Dr. Subhashis Debnath
Professor and HOD
Department of Pharmaceutics
Seven Hills College of Pharmacy
Tirupati
Man observing animal kingdom
Diocles of Carystus
The ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans:
To trace the history of pharmacy and pharmaceutical preparations from the time
of the Pharaohs of Egypt up to the present day, we have a series of Egyptian
documents. These include the Kahun Papyrus of 2000 B.C., which dealt with
veterinary medicines
The papyrus is medical
prescriptions written
in hieratic Egyptian writing,
concentrating on treatments for
problems dealing with
the urinary system, blood, hair,
and bites
The papyrus itself is in the form of a scroll 22 yards long, and
about 12 inches wide, and it actually corresponds to a
modern formula book or collection of recipes, in the
compounding of which, something like 700 drugs are
mentioned. Many of these are in use today, while others are
entirely unknown, or at least we have been unable to trace
the vague and in many cases fanciful names given to them.
Some of the drugs or preparations named are as follows:-
Wine, beer, yeast, vinegar, turpentine, figs, castor oil,
Figs
Emeralds
Sapphires
• Rx symbol
This is one of the symbols that links pharmacy practice today to ancient
mythology, and which appears on every prescription. The Rx can take
many forms, but they all basically have the same intent. The most
popular interpretation is that it could have derived from the ancient
Egyptian eye symbol, the Eye of Horus (symbol of protection, royal
power and good health or Jupiter- God of healing), the falcon god of
lower Egypt.
• Left to right: the Eye of Horus, the symbol for Jupiter, and the Rx symbol
Hippocrates
Beginning in the 7th century
BC, Greek legend has it that a
god named Asklepios
gradually superseded Apollo
as the greatest of the healing
gods.
Galen :
Galen is a Greek physician and surgeon. His famous medicinal
formula was Theriac, an herbal jam or electuary with some 64
differnt ingredients that was a virtual panacea or cure-all for
many diseases, and an antidote to many poisons.
Indian Medicine:
It was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu who
invented the Science of Medicine in the
Universe and it is he who quickly cures all
ailments of the ever- diseased living being.
According to the reference, the commonly
worshiped Hindu God of Medicine,
“DHANVANTARI” is the original exponent
of the Indian medicine.
• Chemist and Druggist a term first used to describe both chemical and
drug merchants and practitioners of the emerging profession of
pharmacy in the late 18th and 19th century. It is often used in trade
directories and census returns. Under the 1868 Pharmacy Act, the
term chemist and druggist was used by the Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain to denote those who had passed its minor examination,
thus meeting the minimum requirement to register as a pharmacist
Pharmaceutical Chemist – The term ‘pharmacy’ was in
widespread use in Europe, with various spellings, from the
late classical period. ‘Pharmaceutical’ was used in England
by the 17th century and the Oxford Dictionary cites a
reference to ‘good pharmaceuticall, botanik and chymicall
institutions’ made in 1648. More common usage of the term
‘pharmaceutical chemist’, however, dates from the 18th
century, often referring to advocates of the French school of
chemical based therapeutics. By the mid 19th century, when
it was adopted by the new Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain, the term ‘pharmaceutical chemist’ was being more
widely applied to those interested in organic chemistry and
in the skilled compounding of drugs of all descriptions.
Formation of a pharmaceutical society In Great Britain
• In 1841, one of the leading London chemists, Jacob Bell, organised a
meeting of some of his colleagues which lead to them forming the
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The new Society was
involved in lobbying for legislation to control the registration of
chemists and also the control of the sale of poisons.
• The first Pharmacy Act of 1852 amongst other things, made provision
for a register of chemists and druggists to be set up and maintained. It
also confirmed the Pharmaceutical Society’s charter as well as the bye
laws governing its proceedings.
• Another Act in 1868 recognised those who were already practicing
as chemists and allowed them to be registered, provided they could
show that they were competent to continue practicing. It also
required that future applicants for a licence to dispense and to sell
scheduled poisons must pass a qualifying examination, and that titles
such as “Pharmaceutical Chemist”, “Chemist & Druggist” were
restricted to registered persons. The law now gave the power of
examination to the Society and also set up a schedule of poisons to be
administered by the Society.
• The importance of this Act was that it defined clearly that
Pharmacy was to be controlled by pharmacists through their
Society, and denied the Medical council the power they had
desired to examine and register all those in any way concerned
with the practice of medicine or pharmacy.
Formation of American Pharmaceutical Association :
• Retail pharmacies started popping up in the United States in
1729, with the first one founded in Philadelphia by Irish
immigrant Christopher Marshall. The first pharmacy attached to
a hospital also came about in Philadelphia shortly after, in 1752.
By 1852, the American Pharmaceutical Association, now known
as the American Pharmacists Association, was founded. The first
attempt to standardize pharmaceutical medicines also was made
in this year.
Moving into the 20th century, after World War II, pharmaceutical
manufacturing took on a modern, industrialized form in the
United States. Electronic prescribing systems began in 1990,
used to automate the prescribing, supply and administration of
medicines in hospitals. And now, Forbes has stated that being a
pharmacist is the “best healthcare job” due in part to a high
average salary and projected growth. And, we need them, as
there were 44.6 million prescriptions filled at pharmacies in
2014, amounting to a $236 billion dollar industry.
Future and Conclusion:
• Looking ahead to the future, pharmacies will be even more technologically
advanced, with the use of pharmacy robots, smart packaging and a “smart pill.”
The use of automated “robots” are still in their infancy, but smart packaging can
be used now. It is a blister pack containing a microchip that is able to monitor
when doses are popped out of the package, with data transmitted to a mobile
phone or tablet app. Since smart packaging can’t tell if the dose was taken, we can
go a step further with a smart pill with a sensor that is ingested by the patient,
which can provide information on the dose, heart rate and other variables.
Collected from various sources like internet
Thank You