448 ANNUAL llEI'ORT SMITUSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 



NATIONALSFOIIM ULARY 



AVliile emphasis has heen placed upon the Pharmacopoeia as the 

 book which fixes the standards for medicines within the United States, 

 a second book called "The National Formulary" (abbreviated "N. 

 F.") is also recognized under the Food and Drug Acts, and medicinal 

 products sold under titles found in that book must conform to its 

 standards unless a variation is clearly indicated on the label. 



The U. S. P. and N. F. arc not duplicates, but each occupies a 

 distinctive place in the medical field. The contents of the pharma- 

 copoeia have always represented a selection of those therapeutically 

 active agents which, in the judgment of the revision committee, were 

 the most important of the decade in which the Pharmacopoeia was 

 issued. It also recognized such other substances as might be needed 

 to standardize or from which to prepare these selected medicines. 



The Pharmacopoeia also restricted most of its therapeutic agents 

 to "simples" rather than to combinations of these on the theory that 

 a physician should write a prescription for each patient, combining 

 the medicines, whether chemical or other substances, in the propor- 

 tion and with the vehicle which he believed best suited to that 

 particular patient. 



The National Formularj'^, on the other hand, admitted and stand- 

 ardized other medicines which were sometimes used by physicians but 

 which were not believed to be of sufficient importance or suitable for 

 admission to the U. S. P. The N. F*. also admitted some prepara- 

 tions of U. S. P. simples in the form of solutions or combinations, 

 alread}'^ prepared and suitable for the physician to prescribe without 

 devising his own prescription. The N. F. also contained many older 

 drugs and preparations for which there was some demand and a few 

 new preparations which had not yet been sufliciently proven to 

 receive pharmacopoeial acceptance. 



These two books, through their combined policies, are expected to 

 include and standardize the medicines which are most frequently 

 prescribed b}^ physicians within the United States, but as they can- 

 not give recognition to patented or trade-marked medicines, or those 

 which are secret, there are many other medicinal products sold within 

 the United States under private brands for which there is no official 

 standard. However, under the Food and Drugs Acts, these unofficial 

 products must conform to the claims made for them by the manu- 

 facturer and, while this is frequently evaded by the omission from 

 the label of any specific statement as to strength or purity, the law 

 operates efi'ectively in some instances, especially when the product is 

 a pill or tablet of an official substance and its strength must, of 

 necessity, be given. 



Another present-day publication should also be mentioned, although 

 it is not an official publication and its standards are not enforceable 



