Pharmacy historyNouf Aloudah, M.S

Clinical Pharmacy LecturerKing Saud University

Brief overview of profession roots Study history from its origin in ancient

Babylonia through the middle of the twentieth century

Pharmacy in ancient times◦ It was practiced in prehistoric times as people

instintinctively used the water, plants and earth around them for soothing compresses on wounds and ailments

◦ As civilization dawned in ancient Mesopotamia (2600 B.C.), Babylonian healing practitioners combined the responsibilities of priest, physician, and pharmacist, some oldest pharmacy records are found in Sumerian clay cuneiform tablets that date about 200 B.C.

◦ Retailers of drugs were concentrated on certain street in Babylon by 2111 B.C

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in ancient times◦ An ancient china (circa 200 B.C), legend tells that

emperor Shen Nung investigated the medical properties of hundreds of herbs, and he recorded 365 native herbal drugs in the first pen T’sao

◦

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in ancient times◦ Egyptian priest, prepared medicines, ebers

papyrus dates from 1900-1100 B.C contains 800 prescriptions using 700 drugs, of particular note in the papyrus is inclusion of quantities of substances

◦ Many modern dosage forms are referred to in the ebers papyrus (gargles, snuffs, inhalations, suppositories…..)

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in ancient times◦ Ancient Greece lived the father of botany,

Theophrastus (300 B.C) , his observations about the medicinal qualities of herbs have proven uncannily accurate

◦ Hippocrates of Cos formulated the theory of the four human that parallel the four elements (air- blood, water- phlegm, earth-black bile, fire- yellow bile)

◦ He surmised that disease was caused by an imbalance of these bad humors

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in ancient times◦ Ancient Rome, Galen (A.D 130-200) ◦ Developed principles of preparing and

compounding medicinal agents ◦ Sought to restore humeral balances within a

patient by the use of medicine of opposing qualities

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages◦ Thanks to the Arab world pharmaceutical

knowledge grew considerably ◦ Pharmacy as a separate activity began to develop

and privately owned pharmacies were established in Islamic lands

◦ First known apothecary shop was opened in Baghdad in the 18th century, and the Muslims carried this concept into Europe during wars and other excursions into Africa, Spain, southern France

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages◦ Ibn Sina (circa 980-1037)- Avicenna- intellectual

giant, he was a physician, poet, philosopher, diplomat, companion of Persian princes and rulers

◦ His Canon Medicinae brought together the best knowledge of the Greeks and Arabs into a single medical text

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy differentiate during middle ages◦ German emperor Frederick II issued an edict in

about 1240 that legally separated pharmacy from medicine in southern Italy and Sicily

Pharmacy History

The Renaissance: Pharmacists Flourished Too◦ Reexamined the Greek and roman tents◦ The Swiss physician Pearcelsus (1493-1541) introduce

two ideas disease might be localized in a specific organ, and some plants contained minute quantities of active chemical

◦ Emerging of professional associations of pharmacists◦ Pharmacist was under jurisdiction of Guild of grocers,

which monopolized the drug and spice trade◦ King James I granted a charter recognizing the society

of apothecaries of London

Pharmacy History

The Renaissance: Pharmacists Flourished Too◦ Imbalance of acid and alkaline substances in the

body theory, hompathy

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the early days◦ Increased recognition and application of the

scientific method in the 1700s, modern pharmacy emerged

◦ Progress in organic, inorganic chemistry, immunology, and chemotherapy began to change pharmacy from empirically based profession to a knowledge based one

◦ 4 types of pharmacist: the dispensing physician, the apothecary shop, the general store, and te wholesale druggist

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the nineteenth century◦ Begin manufacturing And selling chemical in the

late 1700s, basis of establishing pharmaceutical companies

◦ World was changing from agriculturally based economy to an industry based one

◦ Manufacturing of drugs using newly discovered principles of chemistry

◦ Microbial basis of many disease◦ Smallpox vaccine of Jenner◦ Isolation of drug morphine from opium

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the nineteenth century◦ National pharmacopeia, 1820, in senate chambers

of the U.S. capital in Washington◦ 1800s states were issuing licenses to

apothecaries◦ 1st was south Carolina ◦ 1821 the Philadelphia college of pharmacy was

founded, 1st pharmacy organization in the united states , other schools followed quickly

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the nineteenth century

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the nineteenth century◦ In the later half, pharmacy apprentices with several

years’ experience in apothecary shops would attend school for a limited amount of time before coming licensed pharmacist

◦ A physician chemist at the university of Michigan changed that. Albert Perscott believed that the scientific foundation of pharmacy should be laid first through didactic educational programs and only then should the student attempt to learn the practical side of the trade through an apprenticeship

Pharmacy History

Pharmacy in the united state: the nineteenth century◦ He was rejected as a delegate at the 1871 AphA

convention in St. Louis but time proved him right!

Pharmacy History

Twentieth century pharmacy: a business or a profession◦ … if the preparation of medicine is taken from the

apothecary and he becomes merely the dispenser of them, his business is shorn of half its dignity and importance, and he relapses into a simple shopkeeper”

W. Procter, chief problem for 20th century

More and more products were produced ready to dispense, pharmaceutical industery become stronger

Pharmacy History

Twentieth century pharmacy: a business or a profession◦ After world war II, the military had an urgent need

for penicillin, which had lain dormant in Fleming's laboratory for 0 years. The technology, scientific knowledge and need were present all at once

Pharmacy History

Twentieth century pharmacy: a business or a profession◦ The art of compounding rapidly become less

important◦ The knowledge about the drugs, their

mechanisms of actions, and their side effects become much more complicated

Pharmacy History

Thank you