# 💊 OpenFDA Drug Search — FDA Approvals & Safety (`nexgendata/openfda-drug-search`) Actor Search the FDA's OpenFDA database for drug approvals, adverse events, recalls, and labeling data. Perfect for pharma research, compliance monitoring, and healthcare analytics. - **URL**: https://apify.com/nexgendata/openfda-drug-search.md - **Developed by:** [Stephan Corbeil](https://apify.com/nexgendata) (community) - **Categories:** Other, AI - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $5.00 / 1,000 results 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/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 ## OpenFDA Drug Search by nexgendata Query the FDA's open data platform for drug adverse events, medication labels, drug recalls, and medical device reports. This actor wraps the OpenFDA API to deliver structured pharmaceutical data without requiring API key setup, pagination logic, or custom parsing code. Search by drug name, active ingredient, or manufacturer and receive clean JSON records ready for analysis. The Food and Drug Administration maintains the most comprehensive database of drug safety information in the world. The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) contains millions of reports from healthcare professionals, consumers, and manufacturers about suspected side effects and medication errors. Drug labeling data includes every approved medication's indications, warnings, dosage instructions, and active ingredients. The enforcement database tracks every drug recall with classification severity and distribution scope. This actor makes all of that data accessible through simple keyword searches. ### How It Works Choose a data type — adverse events, drug labels, recalls, or medical devices — and provide a search term. The actor queries the appropriate OpenFDA endpoint and returns structured records. For adverse events, each record includes the drug name, manufacturer, reported reactions, patient demographics, seriousness classification, and reporting country. For drug labels, you get brand names, generic names, indications, warnings, dosage information, and route of administration. Recall data includes the recalling firm, reason for recall, FDA classification (Class I through III), and geographic distribution pattern. The OpenFDA API serves data without authentication for up to 240 requests per minute. This actor handles the query formatting, response parsing, and data normalization so you receive consistently structured output regardless of which data type you search. No API keys to register, no rate limit management, no response format variations to handle. ### Who Uses This Pharmaceutical companies monitor adverse event reports for drugs in their portfolio and for competitor products. Pharmacovigilance teams track safety signals that might indicate emerging risks. Clinical researchers query FAERS data to study drug interactions and population-specific side effect profiles. Health economists use recall data and adverse event frequencies to model the true cost of medication safety issues. Regulatory consultants need rapid access to enforcement actions and recall histories when advising clients on FDA compliance. Healthcare providers check adverse event databases when investigating unusual patient reactions. Academic researchers studying drug safety epidemiology use FAERS data as a primary data source for signal detection studies and pharmacoepidemiological research. Insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers analyze adverse event data to inform formulary decisions and risk assessments. Legal teams involved in pharmaceutical litigation use FAERS data to establish patterns of harm and evaluate the scope of reported injuries. ### What You Get Back Adverse event records include the drug name, manufacturer, list of reported reactions (coded in MedDRA terminology), seriousness flag, patient age and sex, outcome information, report type, and country of occurrence. Label records contain brand name, generic name, manufacturer, indications, warnings, dosage instructions, route of administration, substance names, and product type. Recall records show the product description, recalling firm, recall reason, FDA classification, status, date, location, and distribution pattern. Device records include device name, manufacturer, event type, report date, and event description. ### Pricing This actor costs $3 per 1,000 results. Monitoring a single drug's adverse events (100 results) costs $0.30. A comprehensive safety review pulling 5,000 records across multiple drugs runs $15. Compared to commercial pharmaceutical data services that charge thousands per dataset, this provides direct FDA data access at commodity pricing. # Actor input Schema ## `query` (type: `string`): Drug name, active ingredient, or manufacturer name to search for. ## `dataType` (type: `string`): Type of FDA data to search: adverse_events, labels, recalls, or devices. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of results to return (1-100). ## Actor input object example ```json { "query": "ibuprofen", "dataType": "adverse_events", "maxResults": 20 } ```` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "query": "ibuprofen" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("nexgendata/openfda-drug-search").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${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 = { "query": "ibuprofen" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("nexgendata/openfda-drug-search").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 '{ "query": "ibuprofen" }' | apify call nexgendata/openfda-drug-search --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=nexgendata/openfda-drug-search", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "💊 OpenFDA Drug Search — FDA Approvals & Safety", "description": "Search the FDA's OpenFDA database for drug approvals, adverse events, recalls, and labeling data. Perfect for pharma research, compliance monitoring, and healthcare analytics.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "Dw9HiQBhaXgxeopPg" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/nexgendata~openfda-drug-search/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-nexgendata-openfda-drug-search", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/nexgendata~openfda-drug-search/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-nexgendata-openfda-drug-search", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/nexgendata~openfda-drug-search/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-nexgendata-openfda-drug-search", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": [ "query" ], "properties": { "query": { "title": "Drug Name or Keyword", "type": "string", "description": "Drug name, active ingredient, or manufacturer name to search for." }, "dataType": { "title": "Data Type", "enum": [ "adverse_events", "labels", "recalls", "devices" ], "type": "string", "description": "Type of FDA data to search: adverse_events, labels, recalls, or devices.", "default": "adverse_events" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of results to return (1-100).", "default": 20 } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```