# Health Canada Drug Product Database (DPD) (`loudtzu/drug-product-database`) Actor

Canadian drug products from Health Canada's official DPD API: DIN, brand, status, active ingredients and strengths, class, sponsor. Filter by ingredient, status, company.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/loudtzu/drug-product-database.md
- **Developed by:** [Travis M](https://apify.com/loudtzu) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 85.7% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 drug products

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Health Canada Drug Product Database (DPD)

### What it does

Pulls all drug products from Health Canada's official **Drug Product Database API** and joins each product with its latest status and its active ingredients. You get one clean row per product, filtered by brand, DIN, ingredient, company, class, status or update date. Each run makes exactly 3 bulk API calls (products, status, active ingredients), 1 second apart. The company endpoint (sponsor addresses and contacts) is never called.

Source: [Drug Product Database on open.canada.ca](https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/bf55e42a-63cb-4556-bfd8-44f26e5a36fe), [DPD API](https://health-products.canada.ca/api/documentation/dpd-documentation-en.html).

### Who it's for

Pharmacy and health-tech apps (DIN lookup, ingredient search), generic-drug and market analysts, pharmacovigilance and formulary teams, and researchers tracking marketed vs. cancelled products.

### Input

| Key | Notes |
|---|---|
| `brandName` | contains, e.g. `Tylenol` |
| `din` | exact 8-digit DIN |
| `ingredient` | active ingredient contains, e.g. `acetaminophen` |
| `company` | company contains |
| `productClass` | `Human`, `Veterinary`, `Disinfectant`, `Radiopharmaceutical` |
| `status` | contains, e.g. `Marketed` |
| `updatedFrom` | YYYY-MM-DD |
| `maxItems` | default 1000 |

Example: `{"ingredient": "acetaminophen", "status": "Marketed", "productClass": "Human"}`

### Output

`drugCode`, `din`, `brandName`, `descriptor`, `productClass`, `status`, `statusDate`, `originalMarketDate`, `activeIngredients[]` (`name`, `strength`, `strengthUnit`, `dosageValue`, `dosageUnit`), `numberOfActiveIngredients`, `aiGroupNumber`, `companyName`, `companyNameWithheld`, `companyLegalFormDetected`, `lastUpdateDate`, `url`, `source`, `licence`.

### Privacy

- The data is reduced, not anonymous: a DIN or brand can still identify a marketed product and its sponsor.
- The company endpoint, which holds sponsor street addresses and contact details, is **never called**, so no addresses or contacts appear.
- **Individual sponsors are removed.** A sponsor name with no legal-form or business words (such as Inc, Labs, Pharma, Products or Canada) is treated as a person if it matches one of three patterns: one person ("RAY IRASTORZA", "DR. JOHN SMITH", "SM BOUCHARD"), two people joined by & / AND ("LISA & GERRY FREUNDL"), or SURNAME (GIVEN NAME) ("FIORE (VICTOR)"). For these, `companyName` is set to null and `companyNameWithheld` to true. On the Oct 16, 2026 live data this affected 5 sponsor names on 10 of 58,367 products. Brands named after a person (e.g. "MARY COHR") are also blanked; this is deliberately cautious.
- `companyName` is the product sponsor or manufacturer exactly as Health Canada publishes it. These are drug-authorization holders. The DPD writes names in capitals, often without a legal suffix, so `companyLegalFormDetected` flags whether a legal-form word was found (about 87% of products). Names without one (e.g. "ABBOTT LABORATORIES") are kept, not withheld.
- The status `lot_number` field is not exported.

### Licence and terms

- **Licence:** [Open Government Licence – Canada](https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada), which allows use "including for commercial purposes" with attribution. Every row carries the attribution.
- **Automated access:** this is the official public API that Health Canada lists on open.canada.ca. `health-products.canada.ca` has no robots.txt (404), so nothing is disallowed, and no terms were found that ban automated use. The Actor makes 3 requests per run.
- Independent; not endorsed by Health Canada.

### Pricing

**Price: $0.003 per result, no start fee** (pay per event, one result = one drug product). 1,000 products cost $3.00. All ~13,400 marketed products cost about $40.

### Limits

- English values only. Data is as current as the DPD (updated nightly).
- Route, dosage form, schedule and therapeutic class aren't included in v0.1 (each would mean another bulk call).

# Actor input Schema

## `brandName` (type: `string`):

e.g. Tylenol.

## `din` (type: `string`):

Exact 8-digit DIN.

## `ingredient` (type: `string`):

e.g. acetaminophen.

## `company` (type: `string`):

e.g. Apotex.

## `productClass` (type: `string`):

Optional.

## `status` (type: `string`):

e.g. Marketed, Approved, Cancelled.

## `updatedFrom` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many products.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `drugs` (type: `string`):

All items returned by the run, in the 'overview' table view.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("loudtzu/drug-product-database").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("loudtzu/drug-product-database").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call loudtzu/drug-product-database --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,loudtzu/drug-product-database"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/WhYNY8neKEtN6Ahyx/builds/Lq8YlGoe5ci30Wozn/openapi.json