The word "pharmacy" derives from the Greek word pharmakon (remedy). However, the desire to cure illness has existed since the dawn of humanity, even before the emergence of a term for the term "pharmacy" as such. The use of medicinal substances has been an essential tool in the progress and development of civilizations, allowing them to combat disease and improve people's quality of life, well-being, and health.
The main axes of the History of Pharmacy are, on the one hand, medicines, and, on the other, the professionals who have ensured that they are used properly. The pharmacist is a specialist in medicine in all its forms.
Before the development of medicines as such, the search for solutions to alleviate health problems focused on utilizing what nature offered, mixing knowledge with superstition, making magicians or sorcerers the precursors of pharmacists.
Prehistoric peoples had considerable knowledge of medicinal plants, developing therapeutic s that combined empirical, rational, religious, and magical elements.
Despite the great development that occurred in ancient civilizations, animistic, religious, and magical notions about illness and its treatment persisted, even though pharmaceutical activity was important. For example, during the Babylonian period, there was a street in Nippur dedicated exclusively to the trade of drug sellers. In Egypt, tasks such as measuring, pulverizing, mixing, filtering, and boiling were performed to prepare different forms of administration: gargles, inhalants, fumigants, poultices, enemas, suppositories, wines, ointments, decoctions, infusions, and eye drops.
In the classical world, a more rational view of the world began to emerge. Galen can be considered the father of pharmacy. As early as the 2nd century, he postulated that
"To understand the therapeutic action of medicines, it is necessary to study not only their quality, but also the necessary quantity to be administered, the correct method of preparing and administering dosage forms, and the appropriate duration of application."
In the Middle Ages, there was concern about aspects such as the relationship the method of administration and the mode of action of medicines. Some treatises state that:
"Drugs can be for external or internal use; that is, they can act internally, as is the case with those we introduce through the mouth or nose, through the ears, or through the anus, or through the vulva; externally, as is the case with epithema, poultices, plasters, and similar remedies that act externally."
The first printed herbals appeared during the Renaissance. In 1498, the "Florentine Recipe Book" was published. It is considered the world's first pharmacopoeia, containing the medicinal formulas in use at the time, along with their "modus faciendi." The most influential work of the period may have been Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, "On the Preparation, Properties, and Testing of Drugs."
During the 17th century, an intellectual revolution began that culminated in the 18th century. In the field of pharmacy, the first text known as a "pharmacopoeia" emerged: the Catalan Pharmacopoeia, aimed at pharmaceutical professionals. Pharmacopoeias during this period became a symbol of government intervention to protect public health. Another important step forward was the issuance by Philip IV of a Royal Decree declaring pharmacy a "scientific art." Apothecaries ceased to be artisans. They were considered key to public health, and medicines ceased to be a consumer product. However, the scientific foundations of pharmacy as we understand it today have their origins in the 18th century. During this period, the study of botany and natural history, the foundations of the Pharmacopoeia, gained special interest.
The 19th century was a time of great technological and scientific development, which had an impact on the pharmaceutical field. Significant advances were made in chemistry, and the analysis and understanding of active ingredients derived primarily from plants was further developed. Subsequently, synthetic drugs began to be produced, leading to the emergence of industrially manufactured medicines during the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This necessitated a radical change in the pharmacist's work.
In short, the pharmaceutical profession has constantly evolved as medicine, knowledge, science, and commerce have changed. In the 21st century, pharmacists contribute to the protection of health and the fight against disease in numerous ways: in addition to the healthcare role of community pharmacists, primary care pharmacists, and hospital pharmacy services, they are also required to participate in the distribution of medicines and healthcare products, in the pharmaceutical industry, and in teaching and research.