@drvibeai/clinical-apis-mcp

A small, first-party MCP server that gives any agent live access to free public clinical/biomedical data. DrVibe-owned so there's no dependency on flaky third-party packages (this replaces the bogus biorxiv-mcp-server / clinicaltrials-mcp-server packages that never existed on npm).

Public, non-PHI data only. Every tool takes a search term — never patient identifiers. Do not put PHI in a query string. None of these APIs are a BAA-covered destination.

Tools

| Tool | Source | Key? | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | clinicaltrials_search | ClinicalTrials.gov v2 | none | Topic search → NCT id, status, phases, conditions, locations | | pubmed_search | PubMed (NCBI E-utilities) | optional NCBI_API_KEY | Citation summaries (title, journal, authors, DOI) | | europepmc_search | Europe PMC | none | Literature and preprints; preprintsOnly topic-searches medRxiv/bioRxiv (their own API can't search) | | openfda_query | openFDA | optional OPENFDA_API_KEY | drug/label, drug/event (FAERS), drug/enforcement (recalls), device variants | | rxnorm_normalize | RxNorm / RxNav | none | Drug name → RxCUI + ingredient. No interactions (NLM retired that API in 2024) | | icd10_search | NLM Clinical Tables | none | Current FY ICD-10-CM code lookup | | medlineplus_by_code | MedlinePlus Connect | none | Patient-friendly info for an ICD-10/RxNorm code | | npi_lookup | NPI Registry (NPPES, CMS) | none | Provider lookup for referral/credentialing workflows | | openalex_search | OpenAlex | none | Open scholarly works across all science (broader than PubMed); OA status + citation counts | | pubchem_compound | PubChem (NCBI) | none | Compound identity + properties (CID, formula, weight, InChIKey, SMILES) for drugs/supplements/chemicals | | dailymed_label | DailyMed (NLM SPL) | none | Authoritative FDA Structured Product Labels (setid + drugInfo URL); complements openFDA | | chembl_molecule | ChEMBL (EMBL-EBI) | none | Molecule development phase (max_phase), type, first approval, ATC class, black-box-warning flag | | mygene_query | MyGene.info (BioThings) | none | Gene symbol/name/RefSeq summary/aliases/Entrez ID (e.g. FOXO3, APOE, KLOTHO) | | opentargets_associations | Open Targets (EMBL-EBI) | none | Gene→disease / disease→target scored associations (genetics incl. GWAS, drugs, expression, literature) | | gwas_snp | GWAS Catalog (EMBL-EBI) | none | SNP (rsID) → trait(s), p-value, risk allele, reported genes, effect size |

Optional env keys are free and only raise rate limits. Association/GWAS results are statistical, population-level evidence — not proof of causation or individual clinical predictions.

Why not Claude's PubMed connector?

Claude ships an official remote PubMed connector. Great — use it when you're in Claude. This server is portable (Codex, Cursor, Gemini, any MCP host) and covers what PubMed alone doesn't, in one free, no-key server: ClinicalTrials.gov, preprints (Europe PMC), OpenAlex, openFDA, DailyMed, RxNorm, ICD-10, MedlinePlus, NPI, PubChem, ChEMBL, and MyGene.info.

For heavier bench/bioinformatics work, Anthropic's official Claude for Life Sciences marketplace (/plugin marketplace add anthropics/life-sciences) adds skills (single-cell RNA QC, nf-core/Nextflow, clinical-trial protocols) and connectors (ChEMBL, Open Targets, bioRxiv, Synapse, …). This MCP is complementary — a lightweight, portable clinical-data layer any agent can use.

Install / wire

This package is published on npm as @drvibeai/clinical-apis-mcp. Use the npx setup for normal plugin/agent installs; use the local node setup only while developing this repository.

Published package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clinical_apis": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@drvibeai/clinical-apis-mcp"] }
  }
}

Local (dev):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clinical_apis": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/packages/clinical-apis-mcp/src/server.mjs"],
      "env": { "NCBI_API_KEY": "", "OPENFDA_API_KEY": "" }
    }
  }
}

Which DrVibe skills/plugins benefit

| Skill / plugin | Tool(s) it would use | |---|---| | pubmed-lookup | pubmed_search | | trial-finder | clinicaltrials_search | | icd-10-helper | icd10_search | | clinical-research-assistant, research-screener, reb-protocol-drafter | pubmed_search, europepmc_search (preprints) | | clinical-guideline-synthesizer, journal-writer | pubmed_search, europepmc_search (citation verification) | | differential-drafter, case-generator | pubmed_search / europepmc_search (evidence anchors, PMID fetch) | | discharge-translator, patient-education commands | medlineplus_by_code | | score-builder | pubmed_search (source verification) | | referral-coordination-agent, credentialing-packet-builder | npi_lookup | | The AI Physician / Resident plugins | pubmed_search, clinicaltrials_search, europepmc_search, openfda_query |

Test

npm test   # node test/smoke.mjs — hits each live endpoint once (8/8 expected)