DailyMed Drug Labels Scraper

DailyMed Drug Labels Scraper

Scrape FDA drug labels from DailyMed by drug name or manufacturer, up to a million per run. Every label returns structured SPL metadata, active ingredients, dosage forms, packaging, and NDC codes. No API key. Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

DailyMed hosts the official FDA Structured Product Labels (SPL) for thousands of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, but browsing or downloading them one by one is slow. This Actor reads the public DailyMed search and label pages directly, filtering by drug name or manufacturer, and returns each matching label in a consistent flat schema.\n\nIt is built for pharmacovigilance teams, pharmacy data integrators, and healthcare researchers who need bulk, structured drug label data without writing their own parser.

Who uses it	What they scrape DailyMed for
Pharmacovigilance analysts	Monitor label changes and safety updates across a portfolio of drugs.
Pharmacy system integrators	Populate drug formulary databases with current NDC codes and packaging details.
Healthcare market researchers	Analyze active ingredient trends and manufacturer market share.
Regulatory compliance officers	Audit label consistency against FDA submission records.

What it does

This Actor collects FDA drug labels from DailyMed by drug name or manufacturer and returns each one as a flat row with structured SPL metadata.

• 🔍 Drug name filter: target a specific brand or generic name, or leave it empty to crawl broadly.
• 🏭 Manufacturer filter: restrict results to a single labeler or company name.
• 📦 Structured SPL fields: active ingredients, dosage forms, routes of administration, packaging descriptions, and NDC codes.
• ⚙️ Max items control: set a hard ceiling from 1 to 1,000,000 labels per run to manage costs and time.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with DailyMed data

📋 Build a drug formulary database.

A pharmacy IT team runs the Actor with no filters to harvest all current FDA labels, then loads the NDC codes and packaging strings into their dispensing system.

🔄 Monitor label revisions.

A pharmacovigilance analyst runs the Actor weekly for a list of 200 drug names and diffs the active ingredient or warning sections against the previous run.

📊 Analyze manufacturer market share.

A healthcare consultant filters by manufacturer name to count how many SKUs each labeler has on the market and which dosage forms they produce.

🔎 Find all drugs with a specific active ingredient.

A researcher scrapes the full dataset and filters locally for labels containing a particular active moiety to identify all branded and generic versions.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key or registration	Reads the public DailyMed website directly, no NIH account needed.
Flat, predictable schema	Every label returns the same fields so your pipeline never breaks on a missing column.
Bulk scale	Collect up to a million labels in a single run for large formulary or research projects.
Structured SPL metadata	Active ingredients, dosage forms, packaging, and NDC codes are parsed into separate fields.

How it compares

Three other DailyMed scrapers exist on Apify. This Actor focuses on a clean, flat schema with drug name and manufacturer as the only inputs, keeping the run configuration simple.

Feature	ParseForge	DailyMed Drug Label Scraper	DailyMed Drug Label Scraper - FDA SPL, NDC & Labeler Data	DailyMed Drug Label Scraper (FDA/NLM)
Search by drug name	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Search by manufacturer	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
NDC codes in output	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Active ingredients parsed	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Dosage forms and packaging	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Browse by drug class	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a drug name, a manufacturer name, or both, and set a maximum number of labels to cap the run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the DailyMed Drug Labels Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to DailyMed through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/dailymed-drug-labels-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your spelling in the drug name or manufacturer field. DailyMed search is exact. Try a shorter substring or a different variation of the name. Also confirm that the drug is listed on the DailyMed website manually.

The run stopped before reaching my max items limit.

The Actor stops when DailyMed has no more results matching your filters. If you expected more labels, broaden your search by removing one of the filters or using a more general term.

Some fields are empty in my output.

Not every DailyMed label includes every SPL field. If a drug does not have a listed NDC or a particular dosage form, that field will be empty in your row. This is expected behavior reflecting the source data.

The run is taking a long time.

Large max items values mean more pages to visit. The Actor respects DailyMed's servers with polite delays. Reduce your max items or narrow your filters to speed up the run.

I got an error or timeout.

DailyMed may occasionally be slow. The Actor includes automatic retries. If the problem persists, try again later or reduce the max items to shorten the run duration.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key or NIH account to use this Actor?	No. The Actor reads the public DailyMed website, so no registration, API key, or OAuth flow is required.
What data fields does each drug label row contain?	Each row includes the drug name, manufacturer, active ingredients, dosage forms, routes of administration, packaging descriptions, NDC codes, and the full SPL metadata that DailyMed exposes on the label page.
Can I scrape labels for a single specific drug?	Yes. Enter the exact brand or generic name in the drug name input field and set max items to 1 to retrieve only that label.
How do I get all labels from one manufacturer?	Fill in the manufacturer field with the company name as it appears on DailyMed and leave the drug name field empty. The Actor will return every label associated with that manufacturer.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your dataset to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform after the run completes.
Does this Actor handle prescription and over-the-counter drugs?	Yes. DailyMed includes labels for both prescription and OTC human drugs, as well as some animal drugs and homeopathic products.
Can I get historical versions of a drug label?	DailyMed shows the current label. This Actor returns the label as it appears at the time of the run. For historical label archives, you would need to check the FDA's SPL history directly.
How many labels can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum anywhere from 1 to 1,000,000 labels. The Actor stops when it hits your limit or runs out of matching results.
What happens if I leave both drug name and manufacturer empty?	The Actor will crawl DailyMed broadly, returning labels in the order they appear until it reaches your max items limit.
Are NDC codes included in the output?	Yes. The Actor parses the National Drug Code (NDC) numbers from each label's packaging section and includes them in the output row.

Related actors

• fda-drug-approvals-scraper: Use this to scrape FDA drug approval letters and review documents instead of DailyMed labels.

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. National Library of Medicine. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.