Drugs.com Medication Scraper avatar

Drugs.com Medication Scraper

Pricing

from $19.00 / 1,000 results

Go to Apify Store
Drugs.com Medication Scraper

Drugs.com Medication Scraper

Scrapes drug monograph pages from Drugs.com by starting letter or specific drug name. Returns generic name, brand names, drug class, pregnancy category, and CSA schedule for each medication.

Pricing

from $19.00 / 1,000 results

Rating

0.0

(0)

Developer

ParseForge

ParseForge

Maintained by Community

Actor stats

0

Bookmarked

6

Total users

2

Monthly active users

3 days ago

Last modified

Share

ParseForge

Drugs.com Medication Scraper

Scrape detailed medication data from Drugs.com, including side effects, dosage, interactions, and drug classes. Browse by starting letter or target specific drugs by name, and export structured rows to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Building a medication database or researching drug information manually is slow and error-prone. This Actor reads public drug monograph pages from Drugs.com, the largest consumer health information site, and returns structured data for each medication. You can browse the entire index by starting letter or look up a custom list of drug names directly.

Who uses itWhat they scrape Drugs.com for
Healthcare data analystsBuilding a structured internal database of drug monographs for research.
Pharmacovigilance teamsMonitoring side effect profiles and safety information across drug classes.
Medical content platformsAggregating consumer-friendly medication guides for a health portal.
Pharma competitive intelligenceTracking listed indications and drug class categorizations.

What it does

This Actor collects medication profiles from Drugs.com by browsing the A-Z index or by specific drug name, and returns each drug's details as a flat row.

  • ๐Ÿ”ค Browse by letter: Scrape all drugs starting with a chosen letter, from A to Z, up to a million per run.
  • ๐ŸŽฏ Target specific drugs: Provide a list of drug names like aspirin or ibuprofen to scrape only those pages directly.
  • ๐Ÿ“‹ Structured output: Each drug returns with its generic name, brand names, drug class, pregnancy category, and CSA schedule.

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

What you can do with Drugs.com data

๐Ÿ“Š Build a medication reference database.

A healthcare data team scrapes all drugs starting with 'a' through 'z' to populate an internal drug information system with structured monograph data.

โš ๏ธ Monitor side effect profiles.

A pharmacovigilance analyst scrapes a list of drugs in a therapeutic class to compare listed adverse effects and safety warnings.

๐Ÿ“ Populate a health content portal.

A medical publisher scrapes drug monographs to seed a consumer health website with accurate, up-to-date medication guides.

๐Ÿ” Research drug classifications.

A pharmacy student scrapes a batch of drugs to study pregnancy categories, CSA schedules, and drug class assignments across medications.

Why choose this scraper

What you get
No API key neededReads public drug pages directly with no registration or approval.
Flexible targetingBrowse the entire index by letter or scrape a custom list of drugs.
Fixed schemaEvery drug returns the same fields, ready for your database or analysis.

How it compares

This Actor focuses exclusively on scraping structured drug monograph data from Drugs.com, while the competitor below combines multiple sources for broader pharmaceutical intelligence.

FeatureParseForgeDrug Intelligence MCP
Scrapes Drugs.com drug monographsYesYes
Browse by A-Z drug index letterYesNot listed
Target specific drugs by nameYesNot listed
Returns pregnancy categoryYesNot listed
Returns CSA scheduleYesNot listed
Clinical trial status dataNot listedYes
Patent expiry datesNot listedYes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a starting letter to browse the A-Z index or a list of specific drug names for targeted lookups, and set a maximum item count to cap the run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
"startLetter": "a",
"maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
"startLetter": "a",
"maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collectedApproximate cost
100 results$2.10
1,000 results$21.00
10,000 results$210.00

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 Drugs.com Medication 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 Drugs.com 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/drugs-com-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that the drug names in your 'Specific Drug Names' list are spelled correctly and match Drugs.com's generic name format. If using 'Start Letter', ensure the letter has drugs indexed. Try a common letter like 'a' with a small maxItems to test.

The Actor is timing out or running slowly.

Reduce the maxItems value to scrape fewer drugs per run. If you need the full alphabet, split the work across multiple runs, one letter at a time, and use a lower concurrency setting.

Some fields are empty in the output.

Not every drug page on Drugs.com has all fields populated. Pregnancy category, CSA schedule, or drug class may be blank if the information is not available for that specific medication.

I get an error when using specific drug names.

Make sure you are entering the generic drug name, not a brand name. For example, use 'ibuprofen' instead of 'Advil'. The Actor searches the Drugs.com index by generic name.

The Actor is blocked or returning errors.

Drugs.com may rate-limit aggressive scraping. Use Apify's built-in proxy rotation and set reasonable run intervals. If the problem persists, reduce the request rate or contact support.

FAQ

QuestionAnswer
Can I scrape all drugs on Drugs.com?Yes. Run the Actor once for each letter A through Z, setting maxItems high enough to capture all drugs under that letter. There is no single 'scrape all' button, but you can loop through the alphabet.
What data fields does the Actor return?The Actor returns the generic name, brand names, drug class, pregnancy category, CSA schedule, and the full URL of the drug page. The exact field list is shown in the sample output on the Actor's page.
How do I scrape only a few specific drugs?Use the 'Specific Drug Names' field in Advanced Options. Enter a list of drug names like 'aspirin' or 'metformin', and the Actor will look up only those pages, ignoring the start letter.
Does this Actor require a Drugs.com account or API key?No. It reads the public drug index and monograph pages directly. No login, no API key, and no registration is needed.
Can I get drug interactions data?The Actor collects the information displayed on the main drug monograph page. If interactions are listed on that page, they will be included in the structured output.
What is the maximum number of drugs I can scrape?You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run. The actual number of drugs available under a single letter is typically much smaller.
How do I export the scraped data?Your dataset is stored on Apify and can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML. You can also use the Apify API to download it programmatically.
Can I scrape drug prices or pharmacy listings?This Actor focuses on the clinical drug monograph pages. It does not scrape the price comparison or pharmacy locator sections of Drugs.com.
Is this Actor suitable for clinical decision support?The data comes from Drugs.com, which provides consumer health information. Always verify against official prescribing information for clinical use.
How often should I re-scrape for updates?Drug monographs are updated periodically. Schedule the Actor to run weekly or monthly to keep your database current with any label changes.

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

๐Ÿ†˜ Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

โš ๏ธ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Drugsite Trust. 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.