A Basis for Pharmaceutical Sciences "Quality Assurance'': Quality Assurance of Health Foods, Foods with Health Claims, and Pharmaceutics

The author believes that the three pillars of pharmaceutical sciences (PS) in Japan are drug development science, medical pharmacy, and quality management science. Of these, the most PS-like science is quality management science, both historically and presently. Considering the balance of safety and efficacy is the basis of PS. The definition of "quality'' is the degree to which a set of inherent properties of a product, system, or process fulfills requirements in Q9 of International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). In our society, pharmaceutical science graduates including pharmacists, are active participants, not only in the pharmaceutical industry, including a pharmacy, but also in the food industry, especially for quality assurance and quality control. This report presents a focused overview of quality in health foods, foods with health claims, and pharmaceutical products and discusses the importance of a curriculum focusing on quality assurance, control, and management in pharmaceutical education.