The Chilean Pharmaceutical Policy was an attempt in the 1960s and 1970s to introduce a rational national pharmaceuticals policy. Chile was perhaps the first country in the world to introduce the concept of a limited number of essential drugs. In 1965 the government of President Eduardo Frei took measures to rationalise drug supply and use and in 1967, a national formulary with a limited list of drugs came into being. In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected to power and rationalisation of the pharmaceutical supply system continued.