# RxNorm Drug Database Scraper (`crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper`) Actor Scrape the NIH RxNorm drug database with search drugs by name, look up by RxCUI or NDC code, get brand/generic names, drug types, and spelling suggestions. Free NIH public API, no auth required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Other - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 4 bookmarks - **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## RxNorm Drug Database Scraper Scrape the [NIH RxNorm](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm/) drug database — a free, authoritative drug terminology resource from the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Look up drugs by name, RxCUI, or NDC code to get brand names, generic names, drug types, and pharmaceutical identifiers. **No API key, authentication, or subscription required** — the NIH RxNorm API is completely free and public. ### What data do you get? Each drug record includes: | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `rxcui` | RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier | | `name` | Drug concept name | | `synonym` | Alternative name or synonym | | `tty` | Term type code (BN, IN, SCD, SBD, etc.) | | `drugType` | Human-readable drug type | | `language` | Language of the record (usually ENG) | | `brandNames` | List of brand names (getDrugDetails mode) | | `genericNames` | List of generic names (getDrugDetails mode) | | `ndcCodes` | List of NDC codes (getDrugDetails mode) | | `ndcCode` | NDC code (lookupByNDC mode) | | `labeler` | Labeler/manufacturer name (lookupByNDC mode) | | `url` | RxNav UI search link | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp | ### Modes #### Search Drugs (`searchDrugs`) Search by drug name and get all matching concept entries. Filter by drug type (brand name, generic, clinical drug, etc.). **Required inputs:** `drugName` **Examples:** `drugName=aspirin`, `drugName=ibuprofen`, `drugName=metformin` #### Get Drug Details (`getDrugDetails`) Get comprehensive details for a specific drug by RxCUI, including brand names, generic names, and NDC codes. **Required inputs:** `rxcui` **Example:** `rxcui=1191` (aspirin) #### Look Up by NDC (`lookupByNDC`) Look up a drug using its National Drug Code (NDC). **Required inputs:** `ndcCode` **Example:** `ndcCode=0591-0460-01` #### Get Spelling Suggestions (`getSpellingSuggestions`) Get spelling corrections and suggestions for a possibly misspelled drug name. **Required inputs:** `drugName` **Example:** `drugName=aspirn` → returns `["aspirin"]` #### Get Brand Names (`getBrandNames`) Get all brand names for a drug, either by RxCUI or by generic drug name. **Required inputs:** `rxcui` or `drugName` **Example:** `drugName=aspirin` → returns Bayer Aspirin, Ecotrin, Bufferin, etc. ### Drug Type Codes (TTY) | Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | `BN` | Brand Name | | `IN` | Ingredient (Generic) | | `SCD` | Semantic Clinical Drug (e.g., "aspirin 325 MG Oral Tablet") | | `SBD` | Semantic Branded Drug (e.g., "aspirin [Bayer]") | | `BPCK` | Brand Package | | `GPCK` | Generic Package | | `OCD` | Obsolete Clinical Drug | ### Input ```json { "mode": "searchDrugs", "drugName": "aspirin", "drugType": "all", "maxItems": 50 } ```` #### All input fields | Field | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | `mode` | string | Yes | `searchDrugs` | One of: `searchDrugs`, `getDrugDetails`, `lookupByNDC`, `getSpellingSuggestions`, `getBrandNames` | | `drugName` | string | For searchDrugs, getSpellingSuggestions, getBrandNames | — | Drug name to search | | `rxcui` | string | For getDrugDetails, getBrandNames | — | RxNorm CUI (e.g., `1191`) | | `ndcCode` | string | For lookupByNDC | — | National Drug Code | | `drugType` | string | No | `all` | Filter by type: `all`, `BN`, `IN`, `SCD`, `SBD`, `BPCK`, `GPCK` | | `maxItems` | integer | No | 50 | Max records to return (1–1000) | ### Output example ```json { "rxcui": "1191", "name": "aspirin", "tty": "IN", "drugType": "Ingredient (Generic)", "language": "ENG", "brandNames": ["Bayer Aspirin", "Ecotrin", "Bufferin"], "genericNames": ["aspirin"], "ndcCodes": ["00591-046001", "00904-204460"], "url": "https://mor.nlm.nih.gov/RxNav/search?searchBy=RXCUI&searchTerm=1191", "scrapedAt": "2026-05-23T12:00:00+00:00" } ``` ### Use cases - **Drug lookup tools**: Build medication search and lookup features - **Pharmaceutical research**: Analyze drug relationships, brand vs. generic names - **Healthcare applications**: Verify drug names and identifiers - **NDC code resolution**: Look up drugs from NDC codes on product labels - **Spelling correction**: Correct misspelled drug names for user-facing search ### Notes - Free NIH public API — no authentication required - Data is authoritative and maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine - The API supports tens of thousands of drug concepts - Results include both current and historical (obsolete) drug entries ### FAQ **Q: Is this free to use?**\ A: Yes. The NIH RxNorm API is completely free and requires no registration. **Q: How many drugs are in RxNorm?**\ A: RxNorm contains over 100,000 drug concepts across brand names, generics, and clinical formulations. **Q: What is an RxCUI?**\ A: An RxCUI (RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier) is a unique number assigned to each drug concept in the RxNorm database. For example, aspirin has RxCUI `1191`. **Q: What is an NDC code?**\ A: A National Drug Code (NDC) is an 11-digit product identifier that uniquely identifies human drugs in the United States. **Q: What's the difference between BN and IN types?**\ A: BN (Brand Name) refers to a trademarked drug product (e.g., "Bayer Aspirin"). IN (Ingredient) refers to the active chemical ingredient (e.g., "aspirin"). # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to look up. ## `drugName` (type: `string`): Drug name to search (required for searchDrugs, getSpellingSuggestions, getBrandNames). Example: aspirin, ibuprofen, metformin. ## `rxcui` (type: `string`): RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier (required for getDrugDetails, getBrandNames). Example: 1191 (aspirin). ## `ndcCode` (type: `string`): National Drug Code (required for lookupByNDC). Example: 0591-0460-01 ## `drugType` (type: `string`): Filter results by RxNorm term type (TTY). Only applies to searchDrugs mode. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of drug records to return. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "searchDrugs", "drugName": "aspirin", "drugType": "all", "maxItems": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `drugs` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped RxNorm drug records. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "searchDrugs", "drugName": "aspirin", "drugType": "all", "maxItems": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "searchDrugs", "drugName": "aspirin", "drugType": "all", "maxItems": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "searchDrugs", "drugName": "aspirin", "drugType": "all", "maxItems": 20 }' | apify call crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/rx-norm-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "RxNorm Drug Database Scraper", "description": "Scrape the NIH RxNorm drug database with search drugs by name, look up by RxCUI or NDC code, get brand/generic names, drug types, and spelling suggestions. Free NIH public API, no auth required.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "RPTULfw7XvZjmx1Bg" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~rx-norm-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-rx-norm-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~rx-norm-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-rx-norm-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~rx-norm-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-rx-norm-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "searchDrugs", "getDrugDetails", "lookupByNDC", "getSpellingSuggestions", "getBrandNames" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to look up.", "default": "searchDrugs" }, "drugName": { "title": "Drug name", "type": "string", "description": "Drug name to search (required for searchDrugs, getSpellingSuggestions, getBrandNames). Example: aspirin, ibuprofen, metformin.", "default": "aspirin" }, "rxcui": { "title": "RxCUI", "type": "string", "description": "RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier (required for getDrugDetails, getBrandNames). Example: 1191 (aspirin)." }, "ndcCode": { "title": "NDC code", "type": "string", "description": "National Drug Code (required for lookupByNDC). Example: 0591-0460-01" }, "drugType": { "title": "Drug type filter", "enum": [ "all", "BN", "IN", "SCD", "SBD", "BPCK", "GPCK", "OCD" ], "type": "string", "description": "Filter results by RxNorm term type (TTY). Only applies to searchDrugs mode.", "default": "all" }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of drug records to return.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```