💊 RxNorm Drug Concepts Scraper (NLM)

🚀 Export standardized US drug concepts in seconds. Search the NIH/NLM RxNorm API by drug name, fetch every related concept for a given RxCUI, or browse every concept of a term type (SBD, SCD, IN, BN, and more). No API key, no normalization headaches, no manual JSON parsing.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-05-13 · 📊 9 fields per record · 💊 RxNorm vocabulary · 🇺🇸 NIH-maintained

The RxNorm Drug Concepts Scraper queries the official rxnav.nlm.nih.gov RxNorm API and returns standardized US drug concepts from the National Library of Medicine. Three lookup modes cover the common workflows: search by ingredient or brand name, pull every related concept for a known RxCUI, or browse every concept of a chosen term type (TTY). Each record carries the RxCUI, full RxNorm name, term type, synonym, language, suppression flag, the canonical RxNav URL, and the parsed base ingredient list.

RxNorm is the NIH-maintained standardized nomenclature for prescription and over-the-counter US drugs and is the lingua franca for clinical decision support, e-prescribing, and pharmacy claims. Coverage spans every TTY in the RxNorm release: IN (ingredient), PIN, MIN, BN (brand name), SCD/SBD (semantic clinical/branded drug), SCDF/SBDF, SCDC/SBDC, DF, DFG, GPCK/BPCK, SY, and TMSY.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Health-tech teams, pharmacy systems, clinical decision support vendors, EHR integrators, public-health researchers, formulary managers	Drug autocomplete, RxCUI mapping, brand-to-generic crosswalks, prescription normalization, formulary builds, clinical-trial dataset prep

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📋 What the RxNorm Scraper does

Three lookup modes in one Actor:

• 🔍 Search mode. Find every RxNorm concept that shares an ingredient or brand name (e.g. aspirin, metformin, Lipitor).
• 🆔 byRxcui mode. Pull every related concept (brand, generic, dose forms, components) for a given RxCUI.
• 📚 allByType mode. Browse the full catalog of a single term type, like every Semantic Branded Drug (SBD) or every Ingredient (IN).

Each record carries the RxCUI, full RxNorm name, term type, synonym, language, suppression flag, the canonical RxNav page URL, the run timestamp, and a parsed baseNames array that extracts the underlying ingredients embedded in compound concept names.

💡 Why it matters: drug data lives in fragmented forms across labels, NDC codes, and EHR vocabularies. RxNorm is the bridge. This Actor lets product, pharmacy, and research teams pull RxNorm into a spreadsheet without writing an API client.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon: a 3-minute walkthrough showing search mode, RxCUI pivot, and TTY browse.

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⚙️ Input

Input	Type	Default	Behavior
mode	enum	"search"	One of search, byRxcui, allByType.
name	string	"aspirin"	Drug or ingredient name. Used in search mode.
rxcui	string	""	RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier. Used in byRxcui mode.
tty	enum	"SBD"	One of 16 RxNorm term types. Used in allByType mode.
maxItems	integer	10	Records to return. Free plan caps at 10, paid plan at 1,000,000.

Example: every concept related to RxCUI 161 (acetaminophen).

{
    "mode": "byRxcui",
    "rxcui": "161",
    "maxItems": 500
}

Example: every Semantic Branded Drug (SBD) in RxNorm.

{
    "mode": "allByType",
    "tty": "SBD",
    "maxItems": 5000
}

⚠️ Good to Know: RxNorm releases monthly. Each run hits the live RxNav API so your output reflects the latest release. Term types like SCD and SBD are very large; browse with maxItems to keep runs scoped.

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📊 Output

Each concept carries 9 fields. Download as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

🧾 Schema

Field	Type	Example
🆔 rxcui	string	"2047428"
💊 name	string	"Excedrin PM Triple Action Caplets and Excedrin Extra Strength Pain Reliever"
🏷️ tty	string	"BPCK"
📝 synonym	string	"Excedrin PM Triple Action Caplets and Excedrin Extra Strength Pain Reliever Kit"
🌐 language	string	"ENG"
🚫 suppress	string	"N"
🔗 url	string	"https://mor.nlm.nih.gov/RxNav/search?searchBy=RXCUI&searchTerm=2047428"
🧪 baseNames	string[]	["aspirin","acetaminophen","caffeine","diphenhydramine"]
🕒 scrapedAt	ISO 8601	"2026-05-13T22:25:16.498Z"

📦 Sample records

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✨ Why choose this Actor

	Capability
💊	Authoritative NIH source. Pulls directly from the NLM RxNav API.
🔁	Three modes. Search, RxCUI lookup, or full TTY browse. One Actor covers them all.
🧪	Parsed base ingredients. A baseNames array surfaces underlying ingredients from compound names.
🔗	Canonical RxNav URLs. Every row links back to the official NLM concept page.
🚫	No API key. RxNav is a free public service. No registration needed.
⚡	Fast. 100 concepts in under 5 seconds.
🔁	Always fresh. Reflects the current monthly RxNorm release.

📊 RxNorm is the standardized US drug vocabulary required by Meaningful Use, used in every certified EHR, and integrated into pharmacy and claims systems across the country.

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Cost	Coverage	Refresh	Format	Setup
⭐ RxNorm Scraper (this Actor)	$5 free credit, then pay-per-use	Full RxNorm vocabulary	Live per run	Flat JSON / CSV	⚡ 2 min
Direct RxNav REST calls	Free	Same	Live	Nested JSON	🐢 Per-endpoint parsers
Monthly UMLS dump	Free	Same	Monthly	RRF files	⏳ Hours
Commercial drug API	$$$	Curated subsets	Real-time	JSON	⏳ Vendor onboarding

Pick this Actor when you want RxNorm in a flat table without writing a client or downloading the UMLS release.

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🚀 How to use

1. 📝 Sign up. Create a free account with $5 credit (takes 2 minutes).
2. 🌐 Open the Actor. Go to the RxNorm Drug Concepts Scraper page on the Apify Store.
3. 🎯 Pick a mode. Search by name, look up by RxCUI, or browse by TTY.
4. 🚀 Run it. Click Start and let the Actor walk the RxNav API.
5. 📥 Download. Grab results in the Dataset tab as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

⏱️ Total time from signup to a downloaded RxNorm slice: 3-5 minutes. No coding required.

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💼 Business use cases

💊 Health Tech & EHR Drug-name autocomplete with canonical RxCUIs Brand-to-generic crosswalks for switching workflows e-Prescribing dropdowns powered by RxNorm Formulary builds backed by NLM data	🏥 Pharmacy & Claims Normalize NDC, GPI, and proprietary codes to RxCUI Cross-vendor formulary reconciliation Drug pricing keys joined on RxCUI Pharmacy chain inventory normalization
🔬 Clinical Research & Trials Cohort definitions by ingredient or brand ATC/RxNorm mapping for international studies Real-world evidence pipelines with stable IDs Public-health dashboards on prescription trends	🤖 LLM & AI Health Tooling Ground LLM drug responses in NLM data Build RAG indexes over RxNorm concepts Training data for drug-NER classifiers Validation layers for AI clinical scribes

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🔌 Automating RxNorm Scraper

Control the scraper programmatically for scheduled runs and pipeline integrations:

• 🟢 Node.js. Install the apify-client NPM package.
• 🐍 Python. Use the apify-client PyPI package.
• 📚 See the Apify API documentation for full details.

The Apify Schedules feature lets you trigger this Actor on any cron interval. Monthly refreshes track new RxNorm releases automatically.

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

RxNorm data feeds far more than commercial health-tech. The same structured records support research, education, and public-health work.

🎓 Research and academia Pharmacoepidemiology papers using stable RxCUIs Clinical-trial datasets prepared for reproducibility Coursework on standardized terminologies Dissertations on drug naming and synonyms	🎨 Personal and creative Hobbyist medication-tracking apps Patient-side drug references and tools Education tools and quizzes on drug names Indie projects in health literacy
🤝 Non-profit and civic Patient-advocacy resources on brand-to-generic options Free clinic formulary management Civic transparency on public drug formularies Plain-language drug glossaries for patients	🧪 Experimentation Train drug-NER models on RxNorm labels Prototype agents that resolve drug names to RxCUIs Test e-prescribing UI flows with real data Benchmark drug-normalization tooling

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🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Open a ready-to-send prompt about this ParseForge actor in the AI of your choice:

• 💬 ChatGPT
• 🧠 Claude
• 🔍 Perplexity
• 🅒 Copilot

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🧩 How does it work?

Pick a mode, set the relevant input (name, RxCUI, or TTY), and click Start. The Actor calls the RxNav REST API, normalizes the nested response into a flat record per concept, and emits the result with a parsed baseNames ingredient array.

🆔 What is an RxCUI?

An RxCUI is an RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier. It is the stable numeric ID that NLM assigns to every drug concept (ingredient, brand, dose form, branded pack, etc.). Use it as a join key across health systems.

🏷️ What is a TTY?

Term Type. RxNorm partitions concepts into types like IN (Ingredient), BN (Brand Name), SCD (Semantic Clinical Drug), SBD (Semantic Branded Drug), and so on. The Actor accepts every TTY in the RxNorm release.

🔁 How fresh is the data?

RxNorm has a monthly release cycle. Every run hits the live RxNav API, so the output reflects the current release.

🌍 Does this include non-US drugs?

RxNorm is a US drug terminology. International coverage exists for some drugs through RxNorm International extensions, but the canonical RxNorm vocabulary is US-focused.

🚫 Do I need an API key?

No. RxNav is a free NIH service that does not require authentication.

⏰ Can I schedule monthly refreshes?

Yes. Use Apify Schedules to run the Actor on the first of every month and pipe results into your warehouse.

⚖️ Is this data legal to use?

Yes. NLM publishes RxNorm in the public domain in the United States. Review your downstream regulatory needs (HIPAA, etc.) for clinical use.

💳 Do I need a paid Apify plan?

No. The free plan covers small runs (10 records). A paid plan unlocks higher limits and scheduling.

🆘 What if I need help?

Reach out via the contact form below to request a custom drug workflow or a feature.

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🔌 Integrate with any app

RxNorm Drug Concepts Scraper connects to any cloud service via Apify integrations:

• Make - Automate multi-step clinical workflows
• Zapier - Connect with 5,000+ apps
• Slack - Get release notifications in your channels
• Airbyte - Pipe RxNorm into your warehouse
• GitHub - Trigger runs from commits and releases
• Google Drive - Export datasets straight to Sheets

You can also use webhooks to trigger downstream actions when a run finishes. Push fresh RxNorm data into your EHR or alert your team in Slack.

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💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection for more reference-data scrapers.

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🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form to request a new scraper, propose a custom data project, or report an issue.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: this Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, or any government agency. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Only publicly available RxNorm data from the RxNav API is collected.