Zimbabwe MCAZ Registered Medicines

The public registers of medicines authorised in Zimbabwe by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ), as clean JSON with English keys: registration number, trade and generic names, active ingredients, strength, dosage form, route, legal supply class, applicant, principal, manufacturers with their countries, and ISO registration and expiry dates. Human, veterinary and complementary medicines, about 4,060 registrations on 2026-10-21:

categories	Register	Medicines
human	Human medicines	3,171
veterinary	Veterinary medicines	399
complementary	Complementary medicines (vitamins, herbal and supplements)	491

All three registers take about 20 seconds.

Who needs this

• Pharmaceutical companies, distributors and importers checking which products are registered in Zimbabwe, who holds each registration, who makes it and when it expires.
• Market-access and regulatory-affairs teams watching competitors' registrations, new approvals (registeredSince) and upcoming expiries (expiringBefore).
• Procurement, tender and supply-chain teams, NGOs and donors verifying that a product and its manufacturer are registered before buying or shipping.
• Veterinary and agricultural suppliers working with the veterinary register.
• Pharmacovigilance, research and journalism studying what is registered, by whom and from which countries.
• AI agents and automations that need one stable schema instead of a web grid.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
categories	array	all three	Which registers to read: human, veterinary, complementary.
tradeName	string	""	Trade (brand) name contains this text, any case (myclav).
genericName	string	""	Generic name or an active ingredient contains this text, any case (paracetamol).
registrationNumber	string	""	Registration number contains this text, ignoring spaces and case (2026/, CM0385).
manufacturer	string	""	A manufacturer's company name contains this text, any case (cipla). Addresses are not searched.
applicant	string	""	Applicant (registration holder) company name contains this text, any case (caps).
supplyCategory	string	""	Legal supply class contains this text, any case (household remedies, pharmacy, 9th schedule).
registeredSince	string	""	Registered on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
expiringBefore	string	""	Registration expires before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
maxItemsPerCategory	integer	100	Stop each register after this many medicines (1-10,000).
proxyConfiguration	object	no proxy	Optional Apify Proxy, if the register is unreachable from Apify's network.

Filters combine with AND. The register itself filters on trade name, generic name, manufacturer and registration date, so those searches take one request per register (a search for "paracetamol" in all three takes about 5 seconds); every filter is also checked on each medicine before it is stored.

Output

One dataset item per registered medicine. Text is kept as the register publishes it with the whitespace tidied; dates are ISO (YYYY-MM-DD). The Output tab on this page documents every field, with one table view per register, and a run summary (OUTPUT) reports per register what was stored, how many rows were read and why it stopped.

A real human medicine (2026-10-21):

{
  "category": "human",
  "applicationId": "000036",
  "registrationNumber": "72/22.3/27",
  "tradeName": "EUCORUB",
  "genericName": "UNICORN CAMPHOR RUB",
  "activeIngredients": ["UNICORN CAMPHOR RUB"],
  "strength": "15.56; 0.61; 2.77; 0.16; 0.12; 0.62G",
  "dosageForm": "OINTMENT",
  "route": "TOPICAL",
  "supplyCategory": "HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES (H.R.)",
  "applicant": "ZIMBABWE PHARMACEUTICALS HEALTHCARE",
  "principal": "ZIMBABWE PHARMACEUTICALS HEALTHCARE",
  "manufacturer": "ECOMED MANUFACTURING (PVT) LTD",
  "manufacturers": [
    { "name": "ECOMED MANUFACTURING (PVT) LTD", "country": "Zimbabwe" },
    { "name": "ZIMBABWE PHARMACEUTICALS HEALTHCARE", "country": "Zimbabwe" }
  ],
  "registeredAt": "1972-04-13",
  "expiresAt": "2027-12-31",
  "registrationStatus": "active",
  "sourceUrl": "https://onlineservices.mcaz.co.zw/onlineregister/Medicines",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-20T22:25:12.187Z"
}

A real veterinary medicine (the register's principal value carries a street address, so principal is null):

{
  "category": "veterinary",
  "applicationId": "V00037",
  "registrationNumber": "80/80.12.10/9015",
  "tradeName": "VALBAZEN FOR CATTLE",
  "genericName": "ALBENDAZOLE",
  "activeIngredients": ["ALBENDAZOLE"],
  "strength": "7.5%",
  "dosageForm": "SUSPENSION",
  "route": null,
  "supplyCategory": "VETERINARY MEDICINES (GENERAL DEALER), V.M.G.D.",
  "applicant": "ZOETIS SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD",
  "principal": null,
  "manufacturer": "PFIZER LABS PTY LTD",
  "manufacturers": [
    { "name": "PFIZER LABS PTY LTD", "country": "South Africa" },
    { "name": "CHEMICAL PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES (PTY) LTD", "country": "South Africa" }
  ],
  "registeredAt": "1980-10-17",
  "expiresAt": "2027-12-31",
  "registrationStatus": "active",
  "sourceUrl": "https://onlineservices.mcaz.co.zw/onlineregister/Medicines",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-20T22:25:26.548Z"
}

A real complementary medicine:

{
  "category": "complementary",
  "applicationId": "CMA008",
  "registrationNumber": "2017/CM0002",
  "tradeName": "CALMETTES NITE 45 MG",
  "genericName": "VALERIAN",
  "activeIngredients": ["VALERIAN"],
  "strength": "45MG",
  "dosageForm": "TABLET",
  "route": "ORAL",
  "supplyCategory": "CMGS",
  "applicant": "ABBOTT LABORATORIES SA (PTY) LTD",
  "principal": "ABBOTT LABORATORIES SA (PTY) LTD",
  "manufacturer": "VEMEDIA MANUFACTURING",
  "manufacturers": [
    { "name": "VEMEDIA MANUFACTURING", "country": "Netherlands" },
    { "name": "WIEWELHOVE GMBH", "country": "Germany" },
    { "name": "DRAGENOPHARM APOTHEKER PUSCHL", "country": "Germany" }
  ],
  "registeredAt": "2017-02-20",
  "expiresAt": "2027-12-31",
  "registrationStatus": "active",
  "sourceUrl": "https://onlineservices.mcaz.co.zw/onlineregister/Medicines",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-20T22:25:28.320Z"
}

Notes on the fields:

• manufacturers lists every manufacturer the register names, as company name and country only (see Data and privacy). manufacturer is the first name in that list.
• supplyCategory is the legal supply class ("PRESCRIPTION PREPARATIONS 9TH SCHEDULE, (P.P.)", "PHARMACY MEDICINES (P.)", "HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES (H.R.)", "CMGS" for complementary medicines…), not the register the medicine comes from (that is category).
• strength lists one value per ingredient for combinations, separated by "; ", often with the unit on the last value only, as published.
• dosageForm and route come from the register's "Forms" value ("TABLET, COATED; ORAL"); route is null when the register gives only a form.
• Dates are calendar dates as the register stores them, with no time or zone added.
• registrationStatus is worked out by the actor: active while expiresAt is today or later (today in Zimbabwe), expired after it, null for the few registrations without an expiry date (35 on 2026-10-21). The register lists the registrations it holds; on 2026-10-21 every dated one was active.
• sourceUrl is the MCAZ online register of medicines. Its grid loads rows through the register's own data service, so the link opens the register, not the product.

Pricing

Pay per event:

Event	Charged for
product-record	Each registered medicine stored in the dataset.

Apify's standard run-start event covers starting the actor. Medicines are stored first and charged after, so you never pay for data you did not receive. When your spending limit runs out, the run stops cleanly and never stores an unpaid medicine.

Data source and politeness

• Source: the MCAZ online register of medicines at https://onlineservices.mcaz.co.zw/onlineregister/Medicines, linked from the authority's website ("Online Registers"). The actor asks the register for rows the way its own grid does, 500 per request; nine requests cover all three registers. No login, no captcha; the certificate is always verified.
• Only medicines: the actor reads the medicines registers and nothing else on the site (not the registers of persons, premises or institutions).
• robots.txt: the authority's website allows everything; the register host publishes no rules. The actor still
  • waits at least 1.5 seconds after each request ends before the next one starts (retries included; a constant, not an input),
  • sends one request at a time, reading the registers one after another,
  • identifies itself honestly as zw-mcaz-actor/0.1 (+https://apify.com/a-g-d/zw-mcaz),
  • asks only for the rows it needs: 10 medicines per register take one request each.
• Measured on 2026-10-21: 10 medicines per register in 5 seconds (3 requests); all three whole registers (4,061 medicines) in 19 seconds (9 requests, about 240 KB per 500-row page); a "paracetamol" search 121 medicines in 6 seconds; everything registered since 2026-01-01, 374 medicines, in 6 seconds.
• Resilience: connection errors, timeouts, HTTP 5xx and 429, and error answers are retried with exponential backoff and jitter inside a run-wide budget. A refusal, a challenge page or a changed answer stops that register with a clear message rather than working around it. One register failing does not stop the others: their medicines are stored, the run summary names the register that failed and why, and the run fails only when every requested register fails.
• Run timeout: the default run timeout is 30 minutes, far more than the registers need. If a run would still outlast its timeout (for example a shorter one you set), the actor stops requesting 20 seconds before it, keeps everything stored and ends SUCCEEDED with a status message saying so.
• Terms: the MCAZ website's footer reads "Copyright © 2026 MCAZ" and the register's "© 2025 MCAZ - Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe". Its privacy policy covers visitor logs, cookies and personal information MCAZ collects; it does not mention automated access or reuse, and no terms-of-use page exists. The register is published so the public can check which medicines are authorised. Check MCAZ's terms for your own use of the data.

Data and privacy

The register publishes product and company data. The actor outputs only the fields listed above, an allowlist, and treats the three company columns strictly, because the register writes street addresses into them:

• Manufacturers: name and country only. Each manufacturer entry in the register reads "COMPANY NAME, street, city, COUNTRY". The actor keeps the text before the first comma as the name and the last part as the country, but only when it is a country name on the ISO 3166 list; everything in between (street, plot, P.O. box, city, postal code) is dropped.
• Fail closed. A company name (manufacturer, applicant or principal) that contains a digit, an e-mail address, a phone number or an address word (street, road, avenue, plot, P.O. box, industrial estate, district…) is output as null instead of being cut. On 2026-10-21 this nulled 25 of 4,727 manufacturer names, 26 applicants and 60 principals.
• Never output: any e-mail address, phone number or street address; any text value that contains an e-mail address or a phone number is output as null.
• Only the medicines registers are read. The actor never requests the site's registers of persons or premises.
• Company names can include a place that is part of the registered name ("KRKA D.D, NOVO MESTO") or a country; these are kept as published.

Limitations

• Which medicines are listed is the register's choice. The register lists the registrations MCAZ holds; it does not publish suspended, cancelled or historical ones.
• Totals change. New registrations are added continuously (4,054 rows on 2026-10-13, 4,062 on 2026-10-17); a run is a snapshot.
• One duplicate. The register lists one human medicine twice (application id M227); the actor stores each application id once per register.
• Data quality is the register's. Typos, units missing from strengths and trade names equal to the generic name are kept as published; manufacturer countries the register misspells beyond recognition, or leaves out, are null.