United States Pharmacopeia Unit

**Semantic type:** Quantitative Concept

**Definition:** An arbitrary unit for the measurement of the biologic activity of antibiotics, endocrine preparations, sera, toxins, vaccines, and related products established by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), the official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and other healthcare products manufactured and sold in the US. For each substance to which this unit applies, USP determines a Reference Standard and a specified assay. If the standard is the same as the WHO-approved International Biological Reference Preparation, and the same assay procedure was used for the biological effect evaluation, the USP unit is considered equal to International Unit.

**Synonyms:** - UNITED STATES PHARMACOPEIA UNIT - UNITED STATES PHARMACOPEIA UNIT - UNITED STATES PHARMACOPEIA UNIT - USP U - USP unit - USP'U - United States Pharmacopeia unit - United States pharmacopoeia unit - [USP'U] - [USP'U] - [USP'U] - [USP'U] - [USP'U]