ABSTRACT
The first official injection (morphine) appeared in the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) of
1867. It was not until 1898 when cocaine was added to the BP that sterilization was
attempted. In the United States, the first official injections may be found in the National
Formulary (NF), published in 1926. Monographs were included for seven sterile glass-
sealed ampoules. The NF and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) published chapters
on sterilization as early as 1916, but no monographs for ampoules appeared in USP until
1942. The current USP contains monographs for over 500 injectable products (1).
