Despite some initiatives dating back to the seventeenth century the first edition of the Hungarian Pharmacopoeia was published only in 1871. This edition was bilingual being published in Hungarian and Latin and reflects the rather modest range of drugs and methods of analysis of the time. From the first five editions (second edition – 1888, third edition – 1909, fourth edition – 1934, fifth edition – 1954), an obvious progress can be observed in the fifth edition, both in content and also regarding the qualitative requirements which apply equally to pharmacies, drug manufacturers and suppliers. The next two editions (sixth edition – 1967 and seventh edition – 1987) reflect not only the progress regarding the medicinal product, but also adherence to international regulations. Actually, these two issues can be considered “national” editions. Following Hungary’s accession to the convention regarding the European Pharmacopoeia (1999) and to the European Union (2004) the European regulations became compulsory. In this particular situation the necessity for translating the European Pharmacopoeia (E. Ph.) into Hungarian emerged. This requirement resulted in the eighth edition of the Hungarian Pharmacopoeia, a “European” one, as an adaptation of the E. Ph. The idea of including monographs regarding traditional Hungarian medicines in the national edition of the E. Ph. arose among its editorial principles, taking in consideration the stipulations required in the E. Ph.
Keywords: Hungarian Pharmacopoeia, history, adaptation, European Pharmacopoeia