ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

The Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) leads and supports the pharmacy profession in England, Scotland, and Wales. It traces its origins to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, founded on 15 April 1841 and headquartered at 17 Bloomsbury Square, London, with founding members including Jacob Bell and William Allen. In 2010, the organisation split into the General Pharmaceutical Council (regulatory) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (representative body), which later became the Royal College of Pharmacy on 15 April 2025. Its headquarters are now on East Smithfield Road, London, having previously been based in Lambeth from 1976 to 2015. The college offers five membership categories: Member, Fellow, Associate, Student, and Pharmaceutical Scientist. It operates RCPharm Publishing, which includes the Pharmaceutical Press (publisher of the British National Formulary and Martindale) and PJ Publications, producer of The Pharmaceutical Journal and Clinical Pharmacist. The college also maintains a museum collection dating back to 1842, covering British pharmacy history, and oversees three National Pharmacy Boards providing professional leadership in England, Scotland, and Wales. Membership is not required to practice as a pharmacist in the UK.