RxNav

A Semantic Navigation Tool for Clinical Drugs

Introduction

RxNav is a browser for RxNorm, the NLM repository of standard names for clinical drugs. RxNav displays links from clinical drugs, both branded and generic, to their active ingredients, drug components and related brand names. RxNorm is one of a suite of designated standards for use in U.S. Federal Government systems for the electronic exchange of clinical health information.

RxNorm API(updated 10/14/2008)
RxNav new features(updated 10/14/2008)
Publications
More information on RxNorm

Start the Navigator

Click on "Launch the RxNorm Navigator" if the link is present: the RxNorm Navigator will start; Otherwise, click on "Download and install the lastest JRE and the RxNorm Navigator". You will arrive at the Sun download homepage, browse to find the JRE download link, and install it. Then return to this RxNav home page, where the link now should read "Launch the RxNorm Navigator" and RxNav installation will be automatically launched. During installation, you can elect to have the shortcut on your desktop.

For Firefox users, open with Java Web Start Launcher.
For Netscape users, you might need to associate the file type "application/x-java-jnlp-file" with application "JRE_HOME/javaws/javaws" (JRE_HOME is the directory that JRE is installed).

RxNav code is digitally signed. You need to accept its security certificateto launch the browser.

RxNav uses Java Web Start Technology and requires JRE 1.5 or higher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Use the Navigator

Select your search aspect by selecting from the "Search By" pull-down menu and enter your search in the top search box, hit carriage return or click the "Search" button. You can search on String, NDC, and UMLCSUI etc. If the search term is found in the RxNorm database, all of its related components would be displayed. If you single click a component (a row in one of the component tables), detailed information of that component appears in the "detailed view" at the bottom of the screen. If you double click a component, that component becomes the search term and all of its related components will then be displayed. This provides a convenient way for you to navigate through the database. There are also navigation buttons located at the top right corner of the screen that allows you to navigation through the terms you searched. For a better view of the rows of a component table, double click on the table header to enlarge the table. To restore to it original component table size, simply close the enlarged view. To obtain the NDC (National Drug Code) or to view the current label of a clinical drug or a branded drug, right click mouse (ctrl-click for Mac) on the corresponding row in the clinical drug table or the branded drug table. (Grey/Inactive "View DrugLabel" indicates drug label information is not available yet; Active "View DrugLabel" menu indicates there is current label information on DailyMed.)

Search By Details Example

String the concept names Tylenol

AMP ID the Alchemy Marketed Product Id (AMP ID) from Gold Standard Alchemy 2050

GCN the Generic Code Number (GCN) from First Data Bank Inc 009172

GFC the Generic Formula Code (GFC) from Micromedex DRUGDEX 108077

GPPC the First Five characters of the Generic Product Packaging Code from Master Drug Data Base. Medi-Span, a division of Wolters Kluwer Health 14559

LISTING_SEQ_NO the FDA generated unique identification number for each product from FDA National Drug Code Directory 284438

MMSL_CODE the identifier for the Multum MediSource Lexicon. Identifier uses Term type and numeric code. First two letters represent term type: BD, BN, CD, GN or IN. CD1001

NDC the National Drug Code (NDC) from the National Drug Code Directory 00045018618

RXCUI the RxNorm concept unique identifier 202433

SNOMED ID the SNOMED CT CONCEPT ID from SNOMED Clinical Terms (drug information). SNOMED International 1039008

SPL the Metathesaurus FDA Structured Product Labels. K72T3FS567

UMLS CUI the UMLS's Concept Unique Identifier from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) C0000266

VUID Number the Veterans Health Administration Unique Identifier from the Veterans Health Administration National Drug File 4021359

Comments? Feedback? Questions?
Contact: Olivier Bodenreider

Search By	Details	Example
String	the concept names	Tylenol
AMP ID	the Alchemy Marketed Product Id (AMP ID) from Gold Standard Alchemy	2050
GCN	the Generic Code Number (GCN) from First Data Bank Inc	009172
GFC	the Generic Formula Code (GFC) from Micromedex DRUGDEX	108077
GPPC	the First Five characters of the Generic Product Packaging Code from Master Drug Data Base. Medi-Span, a division of Wolters Kluwer Health	14559
LISTING_SEQ_NO	the FDA generated unique identification number for each product from FDA National Drug Code Directory	284438
MMSL_CODE	the identifier for the Multum MediSource Lexicon. Identifier uses Term type and numeric code. First two letters represent term type: BD, BN, CD, GN or IN.	CD1001
NDC	the National Drug Code (NDC) from the National Drug Code Directory	00045018618
RXCUI	the RxNorm concept unique identifier	202433
SNOMED ID	the SNOMED CT CONCEPT ID from SNOMED Clinical Terms (drug information). SNOMED International	1039008
SPL	the Metathesaurus FDA Structured Product Labels.	K72T3FS567
UMLS CUI	the UMLS's Concept Unique Identifier from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS)	C0000266
VUID Number	the Veterans Health Administration Unique Identifier from the Veterans Health Administration National Drug File	4021359