September Release - 09/08/2015
This release of RxNorm is consistent with the 2015AA UMLS Metathesaurus release. For additional information about RxNorm releases, including scripts for loading the RxNorm data into Oracle and MySQL databases, read the RxNorm technical documentation.
Sources
The following sources have been updated since the previous RxNorm release:
| Source Name | SAB | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Standard Drug Database | GS | 08/07/2015 |
| Medi-Span Master Drug Data Base | MDDB | 07/29/2015 |
| Multum MediSource Lexicon | MMSL | 08/01/2015 |
| Micromedex RED BOOK | MMX | 08/03/2015 |
| FDA Structured Product Labels | MTHSPL | 08/28/2015 |
| FDB MedKnowledge (formerly NDDF Plus) | NDDF | 08/05/2015 |
| Veterans Health Administration National Drug File - Reference Terminology | NDFRT | 09/08/2015 |
| NDFRT FDASPL relationships | NDFRT_FDASPL | 09/08/2015 |
| NDFRT FMTSME relationships | NDFRT_FMTSME | 09/08/2015 |
| US Edition of SNOMED CT (drug information) | SNOMEDCT_US | 07/31/2015 |
| Veterans Health Administration National Drug File | VANDF | 07/16/2015 |
The following sources have not been updated in this release:
| Source Name | SAB | Date Updated |
|---|---|---|
| Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System | ATC | 2015 |
| Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) | MSH | 01/26/2015 |
| CMS Formulary Reference File | MTHCMSFRF | 2014 |
Data Changes
Removal of MTHFDA
The FDA NDC Directory (SAB=MTHFDA) data will no longer be available in RxNorm starting with the September release. This source was last updated in RxNorm in 2011, which is when the FDA NDC Directory switched its data source to a new system (//www.fda.gov/Drugs/InformationOnDrugs/ucm142438.htm). The new system only includes information for drugs that have structured product labels (SPLs) submitted to DailyMed. RxNorm has another data source, FDA Structured Product Labels (SAB=MTHSPL), which includes all of the drugs listed on DailyMed. Because much of the data in MTHFDA is out-of-date, and the newer content is duplicated in MTHSPL, MTHFDA is not adding any value to RxNorm and its users. Removal of MTHFDA will simplify the work of RxNorm editors, improving the quality of RxNorm while reducing the cost of production. Additionally, users will see a reduction in the RxNorm data files by over 800,000 rows of obsolete records.
Removal of ‘OCD’ Data Files
OCD data will no longer be available in the RxNorm full monthly releases beginning with the September release. As drug source providers have refined and updated their datasets over time, new information has been provided about existing drug strings, making the old information obsolete and ambiguous. Prior to the upcoming September release, RxNorm maintained this old data as SAB=RXNORM strings with term type 'OCD' in RXNCONSOOCD.RRF. Attribute and semantic type information for these data were kept in RXNSATOCD.RRF and RXNSTYOCD.RRF, respectively. As a result of this change, users will notice that the /ocd directory, which includes the /rrf directory containing RXNCONSOOCD.RRF, RXNSATOCD.RRF, and RXNSTYOCD.RRF files and the /scripts directory containing MySQL and Oracle load scripts, is no longer be included in the full monthly release zip archive. Similiar to MTHFDA mentioned above, removal of 'OCD' data will simplify the work of RxNorm editors, as well as reduce the size of the download files by over 10%.
Data Counts
| Term Type or Attribute | Number |
|---|---|
| Active GPCKs | 349 |
| Active BPCKs | 399 |
| Active SCDs | 19739 |
| Active SBDs | 10566 |
| Active RXNORM MINs | 3977 |
| Active RXNORM INs | 10715 |
| Active RXNORM PINs | 2450 |
| Active RXNORM BNs | 6362 |
| Active RXNORM DFs | 112 |
| Obsolete GPCKs | 143 |
| Obsolete BPCKs | 127 |
| Obsolete SCDs | 15162 |
| Obsolete SBDs | 10057 |
| Obsolete RXNORM MINs | 0 |
| Obsolete RXNORM INs | 0 |
| Obsolete RXNORM PINs | 0 |
| Obsolete RXNORM BNs | 9329 |
| Obsolete RXNORM DFs | 54 |
| Editor-suppressed SCDs | 1230 |
| Editor-suppressed SBDs | 1109 |
| Source-asserted NDCs | 1151519 |
| Distinct source-asserted NDCs | 537789 |
| SAB=RXNORM NDCs | 207814 |
| Distinct SAB=RXNORM NDCs | 207814 |
Last Reviewed: September 8, 2015