The Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) 2026 has become the first pharmacopoeia in the world to establish exclusive standards for blood and blood components, a move aimed at strengthening quality assurance and patient safety in transfusion services, officials said on Wednesday.

A pharmacopoeia is an official compendium of quality standards of the drugs being imported, manufactured for sale, stocked or exhibited for sale or distributed in a country. The pharmacopoeial monographs prescribe standards to ensure the identity, purity and strength of the given drugs through botanical identification, various physico-chemical parameters and the like.

The new standards were highlighted at a national conference organised by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) at its Ghaziabad campus to facilitate awareness and implementation of the newly introduced monographs for blood and blood components in IP 2026.

Addressing the conference virtually, Harsh Mangla, Joint Secretary (Drug and Food Regulation), Union health ministry, said the inclusion of pharmacopoeial standards for blood and blood components in IP 2026 was a significant achievement as such standards are not available in any other pharmacopoeia.

He appreciated IPC's efforts and called upon stakeholders to work collectively towards ensuring the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood components across the country.

More than 160 participants, including blood centre professionals, quality assurance and quality control officers, state licensing authorities, haemovigilance experts and government health officials from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh attended the conference, the ministry said in a statement.

IPC Secretary-cum-Scientific Director Dr V Kalaiselvan said the newly incorporated standards would strengthen quality assurance, patient safety and regulatory compliance in transfusion services. He said the standards have been developed in line with contemporary scientific developments and national as well as international regulatory requirements.

The conference featured technical sessions on IP 2026 standards for blood and blood components, regulatory requirements, rational use of blood, plasma quality, the National Formulary of India, the Haemovigilance Programme of India and IP Online, the statement said.

A panel discussion involving experts from IPC, state licensing authorities, haemovigilance programme representatives and transfusion medicine institutions deliberated on implementation strategies and emerging regulatory expectations, it said.

Officials said the conference served as a platform for stakeholder engagement and capacity-building, enabling blood centres to prepare for effective adoption of the new standards aimed at enhancing the quality, safety and efficacy of blood and blood components nationwide.

Published on June 25, 2026