Role and functions of the Nordic Pharmacopoeia.

It was proposed as early as in 1860 that a common pharmacopoeia should be worked out in the Nordic countries but it took more than a hundred years before such a pharmacopoeia was published and put into force. Ever since that early date the Nordic countries have, however, been striving for common regulations in the drug field with more or less intensity. The accomplishment of the common pharmacopoeia is therefore to be regarded only as a milestone on the long way to complete conformity of the different national drug regulations. The Nordic Pharmacopoeia has definitely broken through the borderlines of the earlier national pharmacopoeias, which were designed for the activities of the pharmacies, and has obtained recognition as a work on drug standards possible to apply in the manufacture and control of drugs no matter where they are produced or controlled. The Nordic Pharmacopoeia thus has wider functions and a greater responsibility than the earlier pharmacopoeias. This depends partly on the pharmacopoeia itself, partly on the development in the field of drug control. On the other hand the Nordic Pharmacopoeia has left some of the tasks of the earlier pharmacopoeias to different national formularies, manuals and other sources of information. This applies especially to galenical preparations. As expected the Nordic Pharmacopoeia has facilitated drug trade in the Nordic countries to a certain extent and it is no doubt of greatest value in the different control activities of the national health authorities. It is also a guide-book and a reference work for manufacturers and control laboratories of different kinds. But this is what it should be, what it is intended to serve as. In addition to that the Nordic Pharmacopoeia has played an essential role in many other respects; not least as initiator of different progressive work and drawer of guide-lines for future development in the drug field.