Skip to content

Drug

Use drug commands for medication lookup, target-oriented search, and U.S./EU regulatory context.

Search drugs

Text query:

biomcp search drug -q "kinase inhibitor" --limit 5
biomcp search drug Keytruda --limit 5

EU or comparison search:

biomcp search drug Keytruda --region eu --limit 5
biomcp search drug Keytruda --region all --limit 5

Target-oriented search:

biomcp search drug --target BRAF --limit 5

Indication-oriented search:

biomcp search drug --indication melanoma --limit 5

search drug --interactions <drug> is currently unavailable because the public data sources BioMCP uses do not expose partner-indexed interaction rows.

Omitting --region on a plain name/alias search checks both U.S. and EU data. If you omit --region while using structured filters such as --target or --indication, BioMCP stays on the U.S. MyChem path. Explicit --region eu or --region all with structured filters still errors.

Get a drug record

biomcp get drug pembrolizumab

Default output provides concise identity and mechanism context. Approval-bearing JSON includes additive approval_date_raw, approval_date_display, and approval_summary fields, while markdown renders the human-friendly display date in the base card. Default drug output and the targets section keep generic targets from ChEMBL/Open Targets and may add a separate Variant Targets (CIViC): ... line when CIViC surfaces a variant-specific molecular profile such as EGFRvIII.

Request drug sections

Supported sections: label, regulatory, safety, shortage, targets, indications, interactions, civic, approvals, all.

FDA label section:

biomcp get drug vemurafenib label

Shortage section:

biomcp get drug carboplatin shortage

Regional regulatory and safety sections:

biomcp get drug Keytruda regulatory --region eu
biomcp get drug Keytruda regulatory --region all
biomcp get drug Ozempic safety --region eu
biomcp get drug Ozempic shortage --region eu

Targets and indications sections:

biomcp get drug pembrolizumab targets
biomcp get drug pembrolizumab indications

get drug <name> targets is a mixed-source workflow:

  • Generic targets come from ChEMBL and Open Targets.
  • Variant-specific target annotations may be added from CIViC.
  • Full CIViC evidence tables remain opt-in via get drug <name> civic.

Interactions (OpenFDA label text when public interaction details are available; otherwise a truthful fallback):

biomcp get drug warfarin interactions

CIViC evidence and Drugs@FDA approvals:

biomcp get drug vemurafenib civic
biomcp get drug dabrafenib approvals

approvals remains a legacy U.S.-only section. Use regulatory for the region-aware regulatory view.

EMA local data setup

EU regional commands read EMA local data from BIOMCP_EMA_DIR first, then the platform data directory (~/.local/share/biomcp/ema on typical Linux systems). On first use, BioMCP auto-downloads the six EMA human-medicines JSON feeds into that root and refreshes stale files after 72 hours. Use biomcp ema sync to force a refresh at any time.

Manual preseed still works. If you need an offline or pre-populated root, place these files in the target directory:

  • medicines.json
  • post_authorisation.json
  • referrals.json
  • psusas.json
  • dhpcs.json
  • shortages.json

Confirm local EMA readiness with full health output:

biomcp health

Force-refresh EMA local data manually:

biomcp ema sync

EMA row meanings:

  • configured: BIOMCP_EMA_DIR is set and complete
  • available (default path): the default platform data directory contains a complete EMA batch
  • not configured: no EMA batch is installed at the default path yet
  • error (missing: ...): the EMA directory exists but is missing one or more required files

Helper commands

Trial pivot:

biomcp drug trials pembrolizumab --limit 5

Safety pivot:

biomcp drug adverse-events pembrolizumab --limit 5

JSON mode

biomcp --json get drug pembrolizumab

Practical tips

  • Start with base get before requesting heavy sections.
  • Use target filters to narrow crowded drug classes.
  • Use regulatory, safety, or shortage with --region eu|all when you need EMA context.
  • Pair drug lookups with trial filters for protocol matching workflows.