The Pharmacopoeia Committee of India is planning a second edition to the veterinary supplement along with the 2006 edition of IP. The first edition of veterinary pharmacopoeia, which was brought out in 2000 in India, was the first ever attempt in the world to prepare and compile the monographs of veterinary drugs.

Dr Nityanand, chairman, Indian Pharmacopoeia Committee, while speaking to Pharmabiz informed that the Committee is planning to publish two special editions of pharmacopoeia in 2006. These two includes the fresh edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia and the second edition of the veterinary supplement.

These special editions are apart from the new addendum to IP that would be published by October this year. The 2004 Addendum will have 10 herbal monographs in addition to new drugs introduced in the 2000-04 period including few more antiretroviral drugs, Dr Nityanand said.

Emphasizing the importance of the Veterinary Pharmacopoeia for India, he pointed out that "the country has a huge livestock wealth. It needs medicines for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases in animals. As medicines for veterinary use constitute a significant portion of the total drug armamentarium, it was thought appropriate to prepare a separate volume containing all relevant details specifically for drugs and preparations meant for veterinary use."

The Veterinary Supplement 2000 is the first ever such publication. As it is an adjunct compendium to the Indian Pharmacopoeia 1996, standards for the quality of medicines included therein will have the same legal authority as those included in the Indian Pharmacopoeia 1996.

The monographs of the Veterinary Supplement 2000 are divided into two parts. Part I deals with non-biological preparations whereas part II covers biological products. As the quality standards are the same for all medicines, whether used in humans or in animals, monographs of drugs and their preparations included in this Supplement but already official in IP 1996 contain information on doses and strengths of dosage forms only.

Four appendices describe the details of procedures specifically for testing certain biological veterinary products. The tests included in various appendices of the Indian Pharmacopoeia 1996 are to be referred to for other preparations. For ease of reference, the general notices in the Indian Pharmacopoeia 1996, which are the key to the interpretation of the standards, are reproduced after editing suitably, and are printed on distinctive blue paper, as in the Indian Pharmacopoeia 1996.

The Veterinary Supplement to the IP 1996 published in 2000 contains 55 monographs of veterinary biologicals and 113 monographs of non-biologicals.