RxNav
A Semantic Navigation Tool for Clinical Drugs
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RxNavA Semantic Navigation Tool for Clinical Drugs |
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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 4/28/2009)
RxNav new features(updated 6/11/2009)
Publications
More information on RxNorm
To start RxNav, click on "Launch the RxNorm Navigator" if the link is present; 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 certificate to launch the browser.
RxNav uses Java Web Start Technology and requires JRE 1.5 or higher.
RxNav is capable of searching for drug information using a number of different source identifiers. The table below shows the many identifiers by which a user can search. The default search identifier is a text string, for example "Tylenol". To change to another search identifier type, simply select an entry from the "Search By:" pull-down menu and enter the identifier in the search box and hit the carriage return or click on the "Search" button.
For a string search, RxNav will display a list of suggested names in a popup window beneath the search string box. The suggested names are ingredients or brand names and will be displayed after at least four characters are entered in the search string box. The user can then select an entry from the list using either the mouse or the up/down arrow keys or can continue typing in the search string box.
When no valid entries are found by RxNav, a popup menu is displayed indicating the term was not found. A list of spelling suggestions will be displayed for a string search in order of closeness to the entered term. The user can select from this list to continue the search.
| Search By | Example | Details |
| String | Tylenol | the concept name strings |
| AMP ID | 2050 | the Alchemy Marketed Product Id (AMP ID) from Gold Standard Alchemy (SAB:GS) |
| GCN | 009172 | the Generic Code Number (GCN) from First Data Bank Inc (SAB:NDDF) |
| GFC | 108077 | the Generic Formula Code (GFC) from Micromedex DRUGDEX (SAB:MMX) |
| GPPC | 14559 | the first five characters of the Generic Product Packaging Code from Master Drug Data Base (SAB:MDDB). Medi-Span, a division of Wolters Kluwer Health |
| LISTING_SEQ_NO | 284438 | the FDA generated unique identification number for each product from FDA National Drug Code Directory (SAB:MTHFDA) |
| MMSL_CODE | CD1001 | a derived identifier that combines the Term type (TTY) and the Multum Mediasource Lexicon (SAB:MMSL) numeric code. First two letters represent the term type: BD, BN, CD, GN or IN. |
| NDC | 00045018618 | the National Drug Code (NDC) from the National Drug Code Directory |
| RXCUI | 202433 | the RxNorm concept unique identifier |
| SNOMED ID | 1039008 | the SNOMED CT concept identifier from SNOMED Clinical Terms drug information (SAB:SNOMEDCT). SNOMED International |
| SPL | K72T3FS567 | the Metathesaurus FDA Structured Product Labels (SAB:MTHSPL). |
| UMLS CUI | C0000266 | the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Concept Unique Identifier |
| UNII_CODE | LVX8N1UT73 | the FDA Unique Ingredient Identifier Code. |
| VUID Number | 4021359 | the Veterans Health Administration Unique Identifier from the Veterans Health Administration National Drug File (SAB:VANDF) |
Multiple Ingredient Search
The string search allows users to search on multiple ingredients. To do this, type the ingredient names separated by plus (+) signs in the search field. For example, "acetaminophen + aspirin". RxNav will display all related concepts which contain at least all of the specified ingredients. Each ingredient will be checked separately for spelling, and alternate suggestions, if any, will be given.
Alternatively, when searching by RXCUI, multiple RXCUIs separated by plus (+) signs can be specified in the search field. For example, entering "161 + 1191" in the search field will display all the related concepts containing acetaminophen (RXCUI=161) and aspirin (RXCUI=1191).
RxNav Display
When a search term is found in the RxNorm database, the representative concept and all of its related concepts are displayed. The concept found from the search string is highlighted in yellow. Related terms are found by RxNav using the relationships which are displayed as lines connecting the term type boxes on the RxNav display. Selecting a concept (via single click) will display detailed information for that concept in the "detailed view" shaded box at the bottom of the screen. By double clicking on a concept, that concept string becomes the search term and all of its related components will then be displayed. This provides a convenient way 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.
To populate the display, RxNav uses a set of default paths to traverse from the starting concept term type to find related concepts of the different term types. The table in Appendix A shows the default paths used for each starting term type.
Viewing Long Concept Names
Sometimes concept names are longer than the display area in the term type tables. Double clicking on the table header (the # elements row) will provide a popup display of the term type table which can be resized to view the long names. Closing the popup display will restore the original term type table.
Viewing the National Drug Codes (NDC) for a Concept
To view the NDCs for a clinical drug, clinical pack, branded drug or branded pack, right click the mouse (ctrl-click for Mac) on the corresponding row in the clinical drug or pack table or the branded drug or pack table and select "View NDC". This will bring up a popup window containing the NDCs for that concept.
Viewing Drug Label Information
To view the drug label information from DailyMed for a clinical drug, clinical pack, branded drug or branded pack, right click the mouse (ctrl-click for Mac) on the corresponding row in the clinical drug or pack table or the branded drug or pack table and select "View DrugLabel". (Grey/Inactive "View DrugLabel" indicates drug label information is not available yet; Active "View DrugLabel" menu indicates there is current label information on DailyMed.) The DailyMed web page will be displayed containing the drug label information.
Viewing the RxNorm Data Set Version
To view the version of the RxNorm data set that is being used by RxNav, move the mouse over the RxNav logo (in the upper left part of the display). The date of the release will be displayed along with the date of the last weekly update for that release.
The first and third columns indicate the starting term type associated with the selected identifier
and the ending term type.
The second and fourth columns are the list of term types in order (the path) to get the related concepts
of the ending term type from the starting term type.
Abbreviations:
| BN - brand name | SBD - branded drug |
| BPCK - branded pack | SBDC - branded drug component |
| DF - dose form | SBDF - branded drug form |
| GPCK - generic pack | SCD - clinical drug |
| IN - ingredient | SCDC - clinical drug component |
| PIN - precise ingredient | SCDF - clinical drug form |
Note that precise ingredients have a term type of "IN" in the RxNorm data set, but are distinguished from regular ingredients by their relationships. RxNav determines whether a concept with type IN is a precise ingredient or regular ingredient. So in the table below, precise ingredients are designated as "PIN".
| Start to End | Path | Start to End | Path |
| BN => IN | BN => IN | IN => BN | IN => BN |
| BN => PIN | BN => PIN | IN => PIN | IN => PIN |
| BN => SBD | BN => SBD | IN => SCDC | IN => SCDC |
| BN => SBDC | BN => SBDC | IN => SCDF | IN => SCDF |
| BN => SBDF | BN => SBDF | IN => SBDC | IN => SCDC => SBDC |
| BN => SCD | BN => SBD => SCD | IN => SCD | IN => SCDC => SCD |
| BN => BPCK | BN => SBD => BPCK | IN => DF | IN => SCDC => SCD => DF |
| BN => SCDC | BN => SBDC => SCDC | IN => GPCK | IN => SCDC => SCD => GPCK |
| BN => SCDF | BN => SBDF => SCDF | IN => SBD | IN => SCDC => SCD => SBD |
| BN => DF | BN => SBD => SCD => DF | IN => BPCK | IN => SCDC => SCD => SBD => BPCK |
| BN => GPCK | BN => SBD => SCD => GPCK | IN => SBDF | IN => SCDC => SCD => SBD => SBDF |
| BPCK => DF | BPCK => DF | GPCK => BPCK | GPCK => BPCK |
| BPCK => GPCK | BPCK => GPCK | GPCK => DF | GPCK => DF |
| BPCK => SBD | BPCK => SBD | GPCK => SCD | GPCK => SCD |
| BPCK => SBDC | BPCK => SBD => SBDC | GPCK => SBD | GPCK => SCD => SBD |
| BPCK => SBDF | BPCK => SBD => SBDF | GPCK => SCDC | GPCK => SCD => SCDC |
| BPCK => BN | BPCK => SBD => SBDF => BN | GPCK => SCDF | GPCK => SCD => SCDF |
| BPCK => PIN | BPCK => SBD => SBDF => BN => PIN | GPCK => IN | GPCK => SCD => SCDC => IN |
| BPCK => SCD | BPCK => SBD => SCD or BPCK => SCD | GPCK => SBDC | GPCK => SCD => SBD => SBDC |
| BPCK => SCDC | BPCK => SBD => SCDC or BPCK => SCD => SCDC | GPCK => SBDF | GPCK => SCD => SBD => SBDF |
| BPCK => SCDF | BPCK => SBD => SCD => SCDF or BPCK => SCD => SCDF | GPCK => BN | GPCK => SCD => SBD => SBDF => BN |
| BPCK => IN | BPCK => SBD => SCDC => IN or BPCK => SCD => SCDC => IN | GPCK => PIN | GPCK => SCD => SBD => SBDF => BN => PIN |
| SBD => BN | SBD => BN | SCD => DF | SCD => DF |
| SBD => BPCK | SBD => BPCK | SCD => GPCK | SCD => GPCK |
| SBD => SBDC | SBD => SBDC | SCD => SBD | SCD => SBD |
| SBD => SBDF | SBD => SBDF | SCD => SCDC | SCD => SCDC |
| SBD => SCD | SBD => SCD | SCD => SCDF | SCD => SCDF |
| SBD => SCDC | SBD => SCDC | SCD => BN | SCD => SBD => BN |
| SBD => DF | SBD => SCD => DF | SCD => BPCK | SCD => SBD => BPCK |
| SBD => GPCK | SBD => SCD => GPCK | SCD => IN | SCD => SCDC => IN |
| SBD => IN | SBD => SCDC => IN | SCD => SBDC | SCD => SBD => SBDC |
| SBD => SCDF | SBD => SCD => SCDF | SCD => SBDF | SCD => SBD => SBDF |
| SBD => PIN | SBD => SBDF => BN => PIN | SCD => PIN | SCD => SBD => BN => PIN |
| SBDC => SBD | SBDC => SBD | SCDC => IN | SCDC => IN |
| SBDC => SCDC | SBDC => SCDC | SCDC => SBD | SCDC => SBD |
| SBDC => BPCK | SBDC => SBD => BPCK | SCDC => SBDC | SCDC => SBDC |
| SBDC => IN | SBDC => SCDC => IN | SCDC => SCD | SCDC => SCD |
| SBDC => SBDF | SBDC => SBD => SBDF | SCDC => BPCK | SCDC => SBD => BPCK |
| SBDC => SCD | SBDC => SBD => SCD | SCDC => DF | SCDC => SCD => DF |
| SBDC => BN | SBDC => SBD => SBDF => BN | SCDC => GPCK | SCDC => SCD => GPCK |
| SBDC => DF | SBDC => SBD => SCD => DF | SCDC => SBDF | SCDC => SBD => SBDF |
| SBDC => GPCK | SBDC => SBD => SCD => GPCK | SCDC => SCDF | SCDC => SCD => SCDF |
| SBDC => SCDF | SBDC => SBD => SCD => SCDF | SCDC => BN | SCDC => SBD => SBDF => BN |
| SBDC => PIN | SBDC => SBD => SBDF => BN => PIN | SCDC => PIN | no path |
| SBDF => BN | SBDF => BN | SCDF => IN | SCDF => IN |
| SBDF => SBD | SBDF => SBD | SCDF => SBDF | SCDF => SBDF |
| SBDF => SCDF | SBDF => SCDF | SCDF => SCD | SCDF => SCD |
| SBDF => BPCK | SBDF => SBD => BPCK | SCDF => BN | SCDF => SBDF => BN |
| SBDF => IN | SBDF => SCDF => IN | SCDF => DF | SCDF => SCD => DF |
| SBDF => PIN | SBDF => BN => PIN | SCDF => GPCK | SCDF => SCD => GPCK |
| SBDF => SBDC | SBDF => SBD => SBDC | SCDF => SBD | SCDF => SCD => SBD |
| SBDF => SCD | SBDF => SBD => SCD | SCDF => SCDC | SCDF => SCD => SCDC |
| SBDF => DF | SBDF => SBD => SCD => DF | SCDF => BPCK | SCDF => SCD => SBD => BPCK |
| SBDF => GPCK | SBDF => SBD => SCD => GPCK | SCDF => PIN | SCDF => SBDF => BN => PIN |
| SBDF => SCDC | SBDF => SBD => SCD => SCDC | SCDF => SBDC | SCDF => SCD => SBD => SBDC |
| PIN => BN | PIN => BN | PIN => IN | PIN => IN |
| PIN => SBD | PIN => BN => SBD | PIN => SBDC | PIN => BN => SBDC |
| PIN => SBDF | PIN => BN => SBDF | PIN => BPCK | PIN => BN => SBD => BPCK |
| PIN => SCD | PIN => BN => SBD => SCD | PIN => DF | PIN => BN => SBD => SCD => DF |
| PIN => GPCK | PIN => BN => SBD => SCD => GPCK | PIN => SCDC | PIN => BN => SBD => SCD => SCDC |
| PIN => SCDF | PIN => BN => SBD => SCD => SCDF |
Comments? Feedback? Questions?
Contact: Olivier Bodenreider
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U.S. National Library of Medicine,
8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services |