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Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®)

RxNorm Release Notes

February Release - 02/04/2013

This release of RxNorm is consistent with the 2012AB 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 NameSABDate Updated
Gold Standard Drug Database GS 01/07/2013
Medi-Span Master Drug Data Base MDDB 01/09/2013
Multum MediSource Lexicon MMSL 01/01/2013
Micromedex RED BOOK MMX 01/07/2013
FDA Structured Product Labels MTHSPL 01/28/2013
FDB MedKnowledge (formerly NDDF Plus) NDDF 01/02/2013
Veterans Health Administration National Drug File - Reference Terminology NDFRT 02/04/2013
Veterans Health Administration National Drug File VANDF 01/15/2013

 

The following sources have not been updated since the previous RxNorm release:

Source NameSABDate Updated
FDA National Drug Code Directory MTHFDA 06/01/2011
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) MSH 08/28/2012
SNOMED Clinical Terms (drug information) SNOMEDCT 07/31/2012

Data Changes

Beginning with this release, RXNCONSO.RRF will include a new SUPPRESS value of ‘E’ (editor suppressed) for some SAB=RXNORM drug names. The SUPPRESS=E flag is applied to unquantified TTY=SCD/SBD drug names with no NDCs (i.e., not prescribable) that have related quantified TTY=SCD/SBD drug names. The SUPPRESS=E flag indicates that a drug is not prescribable, and that you should look for the related quantified drug(s) instead.

Unquantified - Has no quantity factor
Fluticasone propionate 0.1 MG/ACTUAT Dry Powder Inhaler [Flovent]

Quantified - Has quantity factor that represents a strength, a unit of time, or a quantity of dosages depending upon the dose form.
60 ACTUAT Fluticasone propionate 0.1 MG/ACTUAT Dry Powder Inhaler [Flovent]

In the above examples, the unquantified ‘Fluticasone propionate 0.1 MG/ACTUAT Dry Powder Inhaler [Flovent]’ has a SUPPRESS=E flag. This drug has no NDCs and is not prescribable; however, its related quantified drug, ‘60 ACTUAT Fluticasone propionate 0.1 MG/ACTUAT Dry Powder Inhaler [Flovent]’, has NDCs and is prescribable.

Unquantified drug names with the following dose forms may have SUPPRESS=E flags:

Data Counts

Term Type or AttributeNumber
Active GPCK forms 349
Active BPCK forms 437
Active SCD forms 20,441
Active SBD forms 16,082
Active RXNORM MIN atoms 3,803
Active RXNORM IN atoms 8,071
Active RXNORM PIN atoms 2,005
Active RXNORM BN atoms 16,215
Active RXNORM DF atoms 103
   
Obsolete GPCK forms 78
Obsolete BPCK forms 42
Obsolete SCD forms 13,130
Obsolete SBD forms 4,055
Obsolete RXNORM MIN atoms 0
Obsolete RXNORM IN atoms 0
Obsolete RXNORM PIN atoms 0
Obsolete RXNORM BN atoms 0
Obsolete RXNORM DF atoms 52
Editor-suppressed SCD forms 1,046
Editor-suppressed SBD forms 1,172
OCD atoms 307,590
   
Source-asserted NDC codes 1,212,101
Distinct Source-asserted NDC codes 542,029
SAB=RXNORM NDC codes 188,716
Distinct SAB=RXNORM NDC codes 188,716

Last Reviewed: February 4, 2013