RxNorm December 2017 Release

RxNorm December 2017 Release. NLM Tech Bull. 2017 Nov-Dec;(419):b8.

The RxNorm December 2017 full monthly release is available as of Monday, December 4, 2017. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started adding 4-letter suffixes to the nonproprietary ingredient name of new biological products. The FDA-designated distinguishing suffix is devoid of meaning and composed of four lowercase letters.

RxNorm is representing the nonproprietary ingredient name lacking the 4-letter suffix as an ingredient (TTY=IN). The more granular ingredient name with the 4-letter suffix is represented as a precise ingredient (TTY=PIN).

To illustrate, here are several RxNorm forms for the biological product Renflexis:

TTY	RXCUI	String
SBD	1927290	infliximab-abda 100 MG Injection [Renflexis]
SCD	1927285	infliximab-abda 100 MG Injection
PIN	1927283	infliximab-abda
IN	191831	infliximab

For more information, see Nonproprietary Naming of Biological Products: Guidance for Industry (PDF format) from the FDA.