💊 Drugs.com Medication Scraper

🚀 Export drug and medication information from Drugs.com in seconds. Get drug class, generic names, brand names, descriptions, warnings, side effects, and FDA approval status - no login required.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-05-22 · 📊 13 fields per record · 26 letters / 24,000+ drugs · Global coverage

The Drugs.com Medication Scraper extracts structured pharmaceutical data directly from Drugs.com, the web's most-visited drug information resource. All data is collected in real-time from public pages - no account, no API key, no subscription needed.

Drugs.com provides patient-friendly drug monographs sourced from Micromedex, Cerner Multum, and ASHP - three of the most authoritative pharmaceutical databases in the world. This actor gives you structured access to that information at scale.

Coverage: 26 letters of the alphabet, 24,000+ drug and medication records, with 13 data fields per record including drug class, generic and brand names, warnings summary, side effects, dosage forms, CSA schedule, pregnancy risk, and FDA availability status.

Target Audience / Use Cases

Audience	Use Case
Healthcare App Developers	Build drug lookup features backed by real Drugs.com data
Pharmaceutical Researchers	Collect structured drug metadata across therapeutic classes
Medical Information Platforms	Populate drug databases with descriptions and warnings
Academic Researchers	Analyze drug class distribution, controlled substance schedules
Health Journalists	Research drug profiles, brand vs. generic availability
Compliance Teams	Audit drug approval statuses and controlled substance classifications

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📋 What the Drugs.com Medication Scraper does

• Browses the Drugs.com A-Z drug directory by letter (a-z)
• Or accepts a custom list of specific drug names to look up directly
• Fetches each drug detail page and extracts structured information
• Returns generic name, all brand names, drug class, and description
• Captures warnings summary and side effects summary from the monograph
• Includes FDA availability status (Rx, OTC, or Rx/OTC), pregnancy risk data, and DEA CSA schedule
• Extracts available dosage forms (tablets, capsules, injection, etc.)
• Identifies what conditions each drug is indicated for (treatment guides)

💡 Why it matters: Drugs.com is the most-visited drug information website in the world, trusted by patients, pharmacists, and healthcare providers. This actor gives developers and researchers structured, machine-readable access to that information.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon

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⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
startLetter	select (a-z)	a	Letter of the alphabet to browse
maxItems	integer	10	Maximum number of drug records to return
drugNames	string list	-	Optional: specific drug names to look up directly

Example 1 - Browse by letter:

{
  "startLetter": "a",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example 2 - Specific drugs:

{
  "drugNames": ["aspirin", "ibuprofen", "metformin"],
  "maxItems": 10
}

⚠️ Good to Know: Free users are automatically limited to 10 results. Upgrade to a paid plan to scrape up to 1,000,000 items. When drugNames is provided, it overrides startLetter.

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📊 Output

Field	Type	Example
💊 name	string	"Aspirin"
🔗 url	string	"https://www.drugs.com/aspirin.html"
🧪 genericName	string	"aspirin (oral)"
🏷️ brandNames	array	["Arthritis Pain", "Bayer Aspirin", "Ecotrin"]
🏥 drugClass	string	"Platelet aggregation inhibitors, Salicylates"
📝 description	string	"Aspirin is a salicylate..."
🎯 usedFor	array	["Heart Attack", "Angina", "Pain Relief"]
⚠️ warningsSummary	string	"Do not use if you have a bleeding disorder..."
🩺 sideEffectsSummary	string	"Common side effects may include upset stomach..."
💉 availableForms	string	"tablets (81 mg, 325 mg, 500 mg)"
✅ approvalStatus	string	"Rx and/or OTC"
🤰 pregnancyCategory	string	"Risk data available"
🔒 csaSchedule	string	"Not a controlled drug (N/A)"
🕒 scrapedAt	string	"2026-05-22T02:08:06.066Z"
❌ error	string|null	null

Sample Records:

[
  {
    "name": "Aspirin",
    "url": "https://www.drugs.com/aspirin.html",
    "genericName": "aspirin (oral)",
    "brandNames": ["Arthritis Pain", "Aspir 81", "Aspir-Low", "Bayer Plus"],
    "drugClass": "Platelet aggregation inhibitors, Salicylates",
    "description": "Aspirin is a salicylate (sa-LIS-il-ate). It works by reducing substances in the body that cause pain, fever, and inflammation.",
    "usedFor": ["Heart Attack", "Angina", "Ankylosing Spondylitis"],
    "warningsSummary": "You should not use aspirin if you have a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia...",
    "sideEffectsSummary": "Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction to aspirin...",
    "availableForms": "oral tablet (81 mg; 325 mg; 500 mg)",
    "approvalStatus": "Rx and/or OTC",
    "pregnancyCategory": "Risk data available",
    "csaSchedule": "Not a controlled drug (N/A)",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-22T02:08:09.000Z",
    "error": null
  },
  {
    "name": "Abiraterone",
    "url": "https://www.drugs.com/abiraterone.html",
    "genericName": "abiraterone acetate",
    "brandNames": ["Yonsa", "Zytiga"],
    "drugClass": "Miscellaneous antineoplastics",
    "description": "Abiraterone works by reducing androgen production in the body...",
    "usedFor": ["Prostate Cancer"],
    "warningsSummary": "Abiraterone tablets should not be handled by a woman who is pregnant...",
    "sideEffectsSummary": "Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction...",
    "availableForms": "oral tablet (125 mg; 250 mg; 500 mg)",
    "approvalStatus": "Prescription only",
    "pregnancyCategory": "Risk data available",
    "csaSchedule": "Not a controlled drug (N/A)",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-05-22T02:08:10.000Z",
    "error": null
  }
]

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✨ Why choose this Actor

Feature	Details
📡 Real-time data	All data scraped live - no stale cache
🌐 Full A-Z coverage	Scrape all 24,000+ drugs across all letters
🎯 Targeted lookups	Provide specific drug names for direct extraction
🧪 Structured output	13 clean fields per record, ready for analysis
🏥 Healthcare-grade source	Powered by Micromedex, Cerner Multum, and ASHP data
⚡ Fast execution	5 drugs in under 5 seconds on cloud
🔒 No login required	100% public data - no account needed

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Feature	This Actor	Manual copy-paste	Other scrapers
Real-time data	Yes	Yes	Varies
Structured 13-field output	Yes	No	Rarely
A-Z full directory support	Yes	No	No
Drug class extraction	Yes	Manually	No
CSA schedule	Yes	Manually	No
Pregnancy risk	Yes	Manually	No
Dosage forms	Yes	Manually	No
Scalable to 24,000+ drugs	Yes	No	No

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🚀 How to use

1. Create a free account on Apify (includes $5 free credit)
2. Open the Drugs.com Medication Scraper actor
3. Set startLetter to the letter you want to browse, or enter specific drugNames
4. Set maxItems to control how many records to return
5. Click Start - your dataset will be ready in seconds
6. Download your results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML

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💼 Business use cases

1. Healthcare Application Development

Build drug lookup features, formulary checkers, or medication guides powered by live Drugs.com data. Get structured fields (generic name, brand names, drug class, warnings) that plug directly into your database.

2. Pharmaceutical Research and Market Analysis

Analyze the composition of drug classes - how many NSAIDs vs. SSRIs vs. statins exist? Which brand names dominate which therapeutic categories? Monitor newly approved drugs by scraping the directory regularly.

3. Medical Information and Patient Safety Systems

Populate or update drug databases with descriptions, warnings summaries, and side effects. Build patient-facing tools that surface concise, accurate drug information from a trusted source.

4. Regulatory and Compliance Workflows

Track DEA CSA schedule classifications and FDA approval statuses across drug portfolios. Quickly identify which products are controlled substances (Schedule II-V) vs. non-controlled.

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🔌 Automating Drugs.com Medication Scraper

Connect this actor to your workflows using Apify integrations:

• Make (formerly Integromat) - Trigger on a schedule, send results to Google Sheets or Airtable
• Zapier - Push new drug records to Slack, Notion, or any CRM
• Slack - Get notifications when a scrape completes with item counts
• Google Sheets - Auto-populate drug databases via the Apify Google Sheets integration
• REST API - Call from any application using the Apify REST API

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Academic Research

Study drug class distribution across the pharmacopeia. Analyze the ratio of brand-name to generic drugs. Map controlled substance schedules across therapeutic categories.

Creative and Educational Projects

Build medication reference tools for nursing students or pharmacy technician exam prep. Create interactive drug class browsers for healthcare education.

Non-Profit and Public Health

Compile accessible drug information resources for underserved communities. Build medication guides in plain language powered by Drugs.com descriptions.

Developer Experimentation

Test NLP pipelines on pharmaceutical text. Build drug name entity recognition models. Experiment with structured health data for machine learning projects.

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🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Want to understand how to use this actor, what fields it returns, or how to integrate it into your project? Ask your AI assistant:

"I'm using the ParseForge Drugs.com Medication Scraper on Apify. It scrapes drug information including name, genericName, brandNames, drugClass, description, usedFor, warningsSummary, sideEffectsSummary, availableForms, approvalStatus, pregnancyCategory, and csaSchedule fields. How can I use this data to build a drug interaction checker?"

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 Is Drugs.com data free to access?

Yes - Drugs.com is a public website. This actor scrapes publicly available information, the same data visible to any visitor without logging in.

📊 How many drugs can I scrape?

There are 24,000+ drug records on Drugs.com spread across A-Z. Free users are limited to 10 per run. Paid users can scrape up to 1,000,000 per run.

🔄 How fresh is the data?

All data is scraped in real-time at the moment you run the actor. Drugs.com updates their content regularly - this actor always returns the current live version.

💊 Does it work for both brand-name and generic drugs?

Yes. The actor handles both brand-name drugs (e.g. Abilify, Advil) and generic drugs (e.g. Aspirin, Ibuprofen). The genericName field always returns the chemical name.

🔒 What does the CSA Schedule field mean?

The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) Schedule is the DEA's classification system for drugs with abuse potential. Schedule I = highest risk, Schedule V = lowest. Most drugs return "Not a controlled drug (N/A)".

🤰 What does the Pregnancy Category field show?

The pregnancyCategory field shows the pregnancy and lactation risk classification from Drugs.com, typically "Risk data available" when FDA data exists for that medication.

🏥 What is the approvalStatus field?

Indicates how the drug is available: "Prescription only" (Rx), "OTC" (over-the-counter), or "Rx and/or OTC" depending on the formulation and dose.

📝 What does usedFor contain?

An array of medical conditions the drug is indicated for, extracted from Drugs.com's "Related treatment guides" section. Examples: ["Heart Attack", "Angina", "Pain"].

🌐 Can I scrape specific drugs without browsing by letter?

Yes - use the drugNames input field with an array of drug names like ["aspirin", "metformin", "lisinopril"]. This bypasses the letter-browse and fetches those specific pages directly.

⚡ How fast is the actor?

In cloud runs, the actor processes approximately 5-10 drugs per 5 seconds. With maxItems: 500, expect a run time of around 5-10 minutes.

🛡️ Does it handle Cloudflare protection?

Yes - the actor uses got-scraping with Chrome browser fingerprinting headers, which passes standard bot detection on Drugs.com without needing a headless browser.

📁 What output formats are available?

JSON, CSV, Excel (xlsx), XML, and JSONL - all available for download from your Apify dataset after each run.

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🔌 Integrate with any app

Connect your Drugs.com dataset to:

Platform	Use
Google Sheets	Auto-populate drug reference sheets
Airtable	Build searchable drug databases
Notion	Create pharmaceutical reference wikis
Slack	Alert teams when new drug data is collected
Make (Integromat)	Multi-step automation with Drugs.com data
Zapier	Connect to 5,000+ apps
REST API	Integrate into custom applications
MongoDB	Store structured drug records
PostgreSQL	Power SQL-based drug queries
BigQuery	Large-scale pharmaceutical analytics

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Disclaimer: This actor scrapes publicly available information from Drugs.com for informational purposes only. The scraped data is provided by Drugs.com and their data partners (Micromedex, Cerner Multum, ASHP). This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by Drugs.com. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making medical decisions. Do not use scraped drug information as a substitute for professional medical advice.