Med Info

med-info

Medication info with citations—fast.

Get a label-backed, traceable summary from authoritative public sources (FDA labeling + NLM identifiers). Designed for reference and research — not medical advice.

Privacy: don’t include PHI. Query by medication name, RxCUI, NDC, or label set_id.

Highlights

• Citations & traceability: includes identifiers (RxCUI, NDC, SPL set_id) plus label dates and source links when available.
• Label-first answers: pulls key sections (boxed warning, indications, dosing, contraindications, warnings, interactions, adverse reactions).
• Normalization: resolves brand/generic names → RxNorm best-match RxCUI; supports NDC lookups.
• Patient-friendly context: links to MedlinePlus Connect when available.
• Optional add-ons: recalls, shortages, FAERS aggregates, drug classes, DailyMed history/media, Orange Book, Purple Book.

Why install

• You want “show your work” medication info for notes, training materials, QA, or internal docs.
• You need a quick path from a messy drug name to clean IDs (RxCUI/NDC/set_id).
• You’re building automations and need JSON output you can audit and reproduce.
• You care about privacy: no patient context required (and none should be provided).

Sources

This skill queries:

• openFDA (drug labels, NDC directory, recalls/enforcement reports, shortages, FAERS)
• RxNorm (RxNav) for normalization (RxCUI, brand↔generic mapping)
• RxClass (RxNav) for drug class membership
• DailyMed for SPL history/media (including labeler-submitted images)
• Orange Book data files for TE/RLD context
• Purple Book monthly data for biologics, biosimilars, and interchangeability
• MedlinePlus Connect for patient-friendly summaries

Safety rules

• For clinical decisions, verify against the full official label. This tool extracts key sections and returns references.
• Do not include PHI (patient-identifying information).
• The script treats all user input as untrusted and escapes values when constructing openFDA search queries to prevent query-injection style surprises.

Example commands

1) Summarize a drug by name

cd {baseDir}
python3 scripts/med_info.py "metoprolol succinate" 

2) Query by NDC

python3 scripts/med_info.py "70518-4370"     # product_ndc (example)
python3 scripts/med_info.py "70518-4370-0"   # package_ndc (example)

3) JSON output (for pipelines)

python3 scripts/med_info.py "ibuprofen" --json

4) Find a keyword in the label text

python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --find ritonavir
python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --find crush --find chew

5) Disambiguate labels (candidates, pick, set_id)

# show label candidates
python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --candidates

# pick the 2nd candidate
python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --candidates --pick 2

# force a specific label by set_id
python3 scripts/med_info.py "05999192-ebc6-4198-bd1e-f46abbfb4f8a"  # set_id
# or
python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --set-id "05999192-ebc6-4198-bd1e-f46abbfb4f8a"

6) Recalls, shortages, FAERS, and drug classes (optional)

python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --recalls
python3 scripts/med_info.py "amphetamine" --shortages
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --faers --faers-max 10
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --rxclass

7) DailyMed and images (optional)

python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --dailymed
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --images

# Note: RxImage was retired in 2021, so --rximage is an alias for --images.
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --rximage

8) Orange Book and Purple Book (optional)

python3 scripts/med_info.py "metformin" --orangebook
python3 scripts/med_info.py "adalimumab" --purplebook

9) Output shaping (optional)

# only print a couple sections
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --sections contraindications,drug_interactions

# brief output
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --brief --sections all

# print redacted URLs queried
python3 scripts/med_info.py "Eliquis" --print-url --brief

What it returns

• RxNorm resolution (best-match RxCUI + name)
• openFDA label match (effective_time, set_id when present) and key sections:
  • boxed warning
  • indications and usage
  • dosage and administration
  • contraindications
  • warnings and precautions
  • drug interactions
  • adverse reactions
• MedlinePlus Connect links (if available)

Environment (optional)

• OPENFDA_API_KEY: increases openFDA rate limits for heavy usage.

Implementation notes

• The scripts are intentionally conservative. If multiple candidates exist, it will show the top few and pick the best-scoring RxNorm match.
• Prefer querying by RxCUI (more precise) after resolution.