openFDA API — drug labels, recalls & adverse events (no key)

FDA drug, food and device data via openFDA, behind a clean HTTP API (and MCP tool). Look up drug labeling (uses, warnings, dosage, ingredients), recalls for drugs/food/devices, and drug adverse-event reports — reshaped from openFDA's huge raw records into the fields you actually need. Search by a simple name or an advanced openFDA query. No API key. Pay per query.

• 💊 Drug label — brand/generic names, purpose, indications, warnings, dosage, active/inactive ingredients.
• ⚠️ Recalls — drug, food and device enforcement reports: classification, reason, recalling firm, dates, distribution.
• 🧾 Adverse events — compact drug safety reports: reactions, drugs, seriousness, patient age/sex, country.
• 🔎 Simple or advanced — a plain term ("advil") or a raw openFDA query (openfda.generic_name:ibuprofen).
• 💵 Pay per query · no key · official FDA data.

The use case it was built for

Pharmacies, health apps, compliance teams and agents need FDA facts without parsing openFDA's sprawling JSON. This actor returns clean, compact records: "what are the warnings for ibuprofen?", "any Class I recalls for this device?", "recent adverse events for this drug?".

Sample output (drug-recalls, q="metformin")

{
  "ok": true, "area": "drug", "type": "enforcement", "total": 42, "count": 1,
  "results": [
    { "status": "Ongoing", "classification": "Class II", "product": "Metformin HCl ER Tablets…",
      "reason": "Presence of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) above the acceptable limit",
      "recallingFirm": "…", "initiated": "2020-06-01", "state": "NJ", "country": "United States" }
  ]
}

How to use

• HTTP API (Standby): POST or GET /drug-label, /drug-recalls, /drug-events, /food-recalls, /device-recalls. GET / returns help.
• Normal run: pass { operation, q } (or search); results land in the dataset + key-value store.
• MCP tool: expose it to your agent via Apify's MCP server.

Input

• operation — drug-label · drug-recalls · drug-events · food-recalls · device-recalls.
• q — a simple term (name/product/ingredient). search — an advanced openFDA query (overrides q).
• limit / skip — page size (≤50) and offset.

Pricing

Per query from $0.006 (down to $0.002 on higher tiers). One call = one query.

Related Actors

• Open Food Facts Nutrition — barcode → nutrition facts.

FAQ

Is this medical advice? No — it returns official FDA records as-is, for information only.

Do I need a key? No. openFDA is keyless (rate-limited); heavy users can add an FDA key later.

Why are records shorter than raw openFDA? They're reshaped to the useful fields; use search for advanced queries.

Notes & limits

Data from openFDA (api.fda.gov). Coverage is mostly US. Adverse-event reports are unverified submissions — presence of a report does not imply causation.