Drug Database — MCP server

Native Model Context Protocol server for the Drug Database — a worldwide drug master + interactions API. Brings 28 public sources across Switzerland, the European Union, and the United States (BAG-SL, AIPS, EPha, oddb, Swissmedic, UK dm+d, ES CIMA, FR BDPM, DE BfArM AMIce, IT AIFA, AT AGES, EMA SPOR/IDMP, DK Lægemiddelstyrelsen, SE TLV, FI Fimea, NO FEST, NL CBG/MEB, BE AFMPS, IE HPRA, PT INFARMED, FDA NDC, Orange Book, DailyMed, NLM RxNorm, FDA UNII, DEA controlled, CMS HCPCS, WHO ATC/DDD) directly into Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and other MCP-compatible AI IDEs.

The package is a thin HTTP shim over drug-database.com/v1/*. It ships schema definitions only — no curated drug data lives in the npm tarball. MIT-licensed.

Install

In claude_desktop_config.json (Cursor and Windsurf use the same shape under their own config keys):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drugdatabase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@drug-database/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DRUG_DATABASE_API_KEY":  "ms_live_…",
        "PHI_GATEWAY_API_KEY": "phi_live_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

One-shot:

# Pinned API base, refuses overrides unless
# DRUG_DATABASE_ALLOW_BASE_OVERRIDE=1 is set
# (anti-exfiltration via hostile MCP config).
npx @drug-database/mcp-server

Tool catalog

Free tier (no key required, rate-limited 100 req/day per host)

• search_drug — worldwide typeahead across the loaded jurisdictions (CH + EU + US public sources). Capped at 5 results.
• atc_lookup — public WHO ATC tree browse — parents, children, DDD.
• schema_docs — field reference for Drug, Interaction, AtcCode types.

Gated tools (require DRUG_DATABASE_API_KEY)

• get_drug — full record + identifiers + indications + dispensing category.
• check_interactions — pairwise + N-way interaction check across 2–20 drugs.
• validate_prescription — bucketed patient context, routes through PHI Gateway.
• list_changes — diff feed since timestamp.

Environment

| Variable | Purpose | |---|---| | DRUG_DATABASE_API_KEY | Bearer token for gated tools. Get one at https://drug-database.com/dashboard/keys. | | PHI_GATEWAY_API_KEY | Required only when validate_prescription is called with patient context. | | DRUG_DATABASE_API_BASE | Override the API base URL. Refused unless DRUG_DATABASE_ALLOW_BASE_OVERRIDE=1. | | DRUG_DATABASE_ALLOW_BASE_OVERRIDE | Set to 1 to allow base-URL overrides. | | DRUG_DATABASE_MCP_TELEMETRY | Set to 0 to disable opt-in anonymous pings. Default 1. | | DRUG_DATABASE_MCP_TRANSPORT | stdio (default) or sse. | | LC_ALL / LANG | Tool descriptions and errors localise to en / de / fr / it. Default EN. |

Security boundaries

• In-memory ETag cache only. Never writes drug data to disk.
• Never logs drug names, ATC codes, Pharmacodes, NDC, or patient context client-side, regardless of telemetry setting.
• Telemetry payload contains only { tool, ok, http_status, ms, mcp_version, sdk_runtime }.
• The API base URL is pinned by default and refuses overrides without DRUG_DATABASE_ALLOW_BASE_OVERRIDE=1 to block exfiltration via a hostile MCP config.

Localisation

Tool descriptions and error strings ship in EN / DE / FR / IT, picked from LC_ALL / LANG. Default English.

License

MIT.