Monday, October 4, 2010

Convert A Usp To Iu







USPs are a unit of a medicine dosage.


USP units are used for measuring the recommended dose for certain medications. This standard was adopted by the United States Pharmacopoeia, a drug-standard compendium. Even though most medications currently are being distributed on a mass basis instead of unit, a conversion is sometimes still necessary. In most situations, USP units are identical to International Units (IUs), but there still are some important differences to consider.


Instructions


1. Locate the prescription from your doctor or the instructions included in the box of your medication.


2. Search for the recommendations in terms of dose.


3. Establish whether the USP unit is an endotoxin, which are abbreviated as "USP-EU". These units are identical to international units, and no conversion is needed.








4. Call U.S. Pharmacopeia at 800-227-8772 or 301-881-0666 if there is no "-EU" after the USP symbol. A phone calls is necessary since the values differ from case to case and the conversion can be done only by a specialist. After calling, ask for a member of the scientific staff, who will be able to provide you with an accurate answer after asking you some questions.

Tags: units identical