British Pharmacopoeia (BP), the official British reference work setting forth standards of strength and purity of medications and containing directions for their preparation to ensure that the same prescription written by different doctors and filled by different pharmacists will contain exactly the same ingredients in the same proportions. The first British Pharmacopoeia was published in 1864 by the General Medical Council; it superseded the London Pharmacopoeia, which had been published since 1618. See also British Medical Association, United States Pharmacopeia.
