FDA Drug Approvals Scraper

FDA Drug Approvals Scraper

Scrape FDA drug approval records by submission type, drug name, or application number, up to a million per run. Every record returns the application number, sponsor, active ingredients, and approval date. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The FDA's openFDA API still requires you to build queries, handle pagination, and map nested JSON into flat rows. This Actor reads drug approval records directly from the openFDA Drugs@FDA endpoint, filters them by your search term, and returns each match in one consistent schema. It is built for analysts who need clean, structured approval data without writing a single line of code.

Who uses it	What they scrape FDA Drug Approvals for
Pharma competitive intelligence analysts	Monitor which companies are getting new drug approvals each quarter.
Market researchers	Build a dataset of approved active ingredients for a therapeutic area.
Healthcare data journalists	Track approval trends by submission type over time.
Regulatory affairs consultants	Pull a list of original ANDA approvals for a specific sponsor.

What it does

This Actor collects FDA drug approval records matching your openFDA search query and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Flexible search: Use any valid openFDA search query, such as submissions.submission_type:ORIG or openfda.brand_name:"Advil".
• 📊 Structured output: Every record is flattened into a fixed schema with application number, sponsor name, active ingredients, and approval date.
• ⚡ High volume: Paid users can pull up to 1,000,000 approval records in a single run.

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

What you can do with FDA Drug Approvals data

📈 Track original drug approvals.

A competitive intelligence analyst runs a weekly search for submissions.submission_type:ORIG to see which sponsors received new drug approvals.

🧪 Build an ingredient dataset.

A market researcher pulls all approvals containing a specific active ingredient to map the competitive landscape for a therapeutic class.

📰 Monitor generic approvals.

A journalist scrapes ANDA approvals by sponsor to report on generic drug market entry trends.

📋 Audit a sponsor's approval history.

A regulatory consultant searches by sponsor name to compile a complete list of that company's FDA approvals for a due diligence report.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API coding	Enter a search term and run. The Actor builds the request and flattens the response.
Full record detail	Get application number, sponsor, ingredients, dosage form, route, and approval date.
Bulk exports	Download results as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for analysis in your own tools.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets FDA Drug Approvals the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	FDA Drug Approvals Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When FDA Drug Approvals changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a single openFDA search query, and the maxItems limit controls how many matching approvals reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

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

Results collected	Approximate 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 FDA Drug Approvals 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 FDA Drug Approvals 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/fda-drug-approvals-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 search query syntax. A typo or an invalid field name will return zero matches. Test your query directly in the openFDA API explorer first.

Why does the run stop at 10 records?

Free Apify accounts are limited to 10 records per run. Upgrade to a paid plan and set maxItems to a higher number to pull more records.

Why are some fields empty in my output?

Not every FDA submission includes all data fields. If a field like dosage_form is blank, the original FDA record did not contain that information.

Why does my date filter not work?

Date fields in openFDA use the format YYYY-MM-DD. Ensure your query uses the correct field name, such as submission_status_date, and the bracket range syntax.

Why is the run slow with a large maxItems?

The openFDA API has rate limits. The Actor respects these limits automatically, so large pulls will take longer. Reduce maxItems or narrow your search query to speed it up.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is an openFDA search query?	It is a parameterized search string that filters the Drugs@FDA API. For example, submissions.submission_type:ORIG returns original drug approvals. You can find the full search syntax in the openFDA API documentation.
Do I need an API key to use this Actor?	No. The Actor queries the public openFDA endpoint, which does not require an API key. You only need an Apify account to run it.
How many records can I scrape?	Free Apify users are limited to 10 records as a preview. Paid users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 and pull the full matching result set.
What data fields does each record contain?	Each row includes the application number, sponsor name, active ingredients, dosage form, route of administration, submission type, and approval date, among other fields. The exact schema is visible in the sample output on the Actor's page.
Can I search by drug brand name?	Yes. Use a query like openfda.brand_name:"Tylenol" to find approvals associated with a specific brand name.
Does this Actor scrape the FDA Orange Book?	No. This Actor scrapes the Drugs@FDA approval records. The Orange Book is a separate FDA dataset for therapeutic equivalence evaluations.
Can I filter by approval date range?	Yes. The openFDA search syntax supports date range filters. For example, you can add AND submission_status_date:[2020-01-01 TO 2024-12-31] to your query.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML format from the Apify platform.
Is this Actor suitable for clinical trial data?	No. This Actor is for drug approval records only. For clinical trial data, consider an Actor that scrapes ClinicalTrials.gov.
How do I find the correct search field names?	Refer to the openFDA API documentation for the Drugs@FDA endpoint. It lists all searchable fields like submissions.submission_type, openfda.generic_name, and openfda.manufacturer_name.

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🆘 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. Food and Drug Administration. 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.