Nicaragua becomes first Spanish speaking country to recognise India pharma standards

MANAGUA: India and Nicaragua have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Pharmacopoeia on cooperation in the field of the regulation of medicines. With this MoU, Nicaragua has become the first nation in Spanish speaking world to recognise Indian Pharmacopeia

India's Ambassador to India Sumit Seth and Nicaragua's Minister of Health Martha Reyes signed the MoU between two nations. In a post on X, Indian Embassy in Nicaragua stated, "The Government of India and Nicaragua signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) on Pharmacopoeia on Cooperation in the field of the regulation of medicines. The MoU was signed by Ambassador of India to Nicaragua Dr. Sumit Seth & Minister of Health of Nicaragua Dr. Martha Reyes." In another post on X, Indian Embassy in Nicaragua stated, "Nicaragua has become the First Country in Spanish speaking world to recognise Indian Pharmacopeia."

 Countries either have their own Pharmacopoeia or recognise Pharmacopoeia of another country for referring the standards of drugs manufactured or consumed in that country, according to Indian Embassy in Nicaragua.

The major Pharmacopoeias in the world are United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), British Pharmacopoeia (BP), European Pharmacopoeia (Ph Eur), Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP) etc. Among these, USP is the largest having maximum number of monographs/standards (4747). British Pharmacopoeia has 4275 monographs/standards while the Indian Pharmacopoeia(IP) is the third largest pharmacopoeia having 3152 monographs/standards.

Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It is created to set standards of drugs in the country, according to IPC's official website. IP is official book of standards for drugs defining the specified limits and testing methods for crude drug and finished formulations.

IP has a legal status within the Second Schedule of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940. All the drugs imported, manufactured and distributed in India must conform to the standards codified in the IP.

The first edition of IP was published in 1955 and latest ninth edition of IP was published in 2022. The IP has been recognized as book of standard by five nations - Afghanistan, Ghana, Nepal, Mauritius and Suriname. With the new MoU, Nicaragua has become the sixth one and the first country amongst Spanish speaking world to recognise Indian Pharmacopeia.