RxNorm API

API

Free NLM API that normalizes US drug names to RxNorm codes, NDCs and generics

Price: Free public API
Access: None

About

The US National Library of Medicine's RxNorm API maps drug names, misspellings included, to RxNorm concept IDs (RxCUI), NDCs and related brand and generic products. Free with no key at up to 20 requests a second; NLM asks apps to show an attribution statement. It has no interaction checker.

What you can do with it

Match drug names users type, misspellings included, to RxNorm concept IDs
Map US NDC codes to RxNorm and find a drug's brand and generic versions
Standardize medication lists in a US health app with RxNorm codes

Get started

Call rxnav.nlm.nih.gov/REST without a key
Stay under 20 requests a second and cache results for 12 to 24 hours
Show NLM's attribution statement in your app

Example

curl "https://rxnav.nlm.nih.gov/REST/approximateTerm.json?term=ibuprofin&maxEntries=3"

Details

Hosting: Hosted service, Self-hosted
Available in: Worldwide
MCP server: None