Medifontis API documentation
Medifontis is a REST API over the official medicine registers of 199 countries. Search medicines by name, active ingredient or national code and get records with their source, licence and limitations.
Quickstart
Make your first request in five minutes.
Authentication
Send your API key and keep it safe.
Search medicines
Names, ingredients and national codes.
API reference
Every endpoint, parameter and field.
Base URL
Every endpoint lives under one host, is versioned in the path and answers JSON:
https://api.medifontis.com/v1Your first request
Search a medicine with a country code and a query. This is a real request; the response below is what it returned.
curl -G https://api.medifontis.com/v1/drugs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $MEDIFONTIS_API_KEY" \
--data-urlencode "country=au" \
--data-urlencode "q=paracetamol"const params = new URLSearchParams({ country: 'au', q: 'paracetamol' })
const response = await fetch(`https://api.medifontis.com/v1/drugs?${params}`, {
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.MEDIFONTIS_API_KEY}` },
})
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Medifontis ${response.status}`)
const { results, nextOffset } = await response.json()import os
import requests
response = requests.get(
"https://api.medifontis.com/v1/drugs",
params={"country": "au", "q": "paracetamol"},
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['MEDIFONTIS_API_KEY']}"},
timeout=10,
)
response.raise_for_status()
results = response.json()["results"]{
"country": "au",
"results": [
{
"country": "au",
"sourceId": "au.pbs.items",
"id": "au:pbs:items:10598T_12218_485_2863_43597",
"kind": "packages",
"name": "APOHEALTH Osteo Relief Paracetamol 665 mg — paracetamol 665 mg modified release tablet, 96",
"names": [
"APOHEALTH Osteo Relief Paracetamol 665 mg — paracetamol 665 mg modified release tablet, 96",
"APOHEALTH Osteo Relief Paracetamol 665 mg",
"Paracetamol",
"paracetamol 665 mg modified release tablet, 96"
],
"identifiers": [
{
"value": "10598T",
"scheme": "pbs-item"
},
{
"value": "10598T_12218_485_2863_43597",
"scheme": "pbs-li-item"
}
],
"data": {
"form": "Tablet 665 mg (modified release)",
"name": "APOHEALTH Osteo Relief Paracetamol 665 mg — paracetamol 665 mg modified release tablet, 96",
"brand": "APOHEALTH Osteo Relief Paracetamol 665 mg",
"route": "Oral",
"pbsCode": "10598T",
"liItemId": "10598T_12218_485_2863_43597"
},
"retrievedAt": "2026-10-20T17:02:19.073Z",
"sourceUrl": "https://data-api.health.gov.au/pbs/api/v3/schedules?limit=100000&page=1",
"licence": {
"id": "LicenseRef-PBS-Public-API",
"attribution": "Source: Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Department of Health, Commonwealth of Australia. Copyright (c) 2024 Department of Health, Commonwealth of Australia."
}
}
],
"nextOffset": 2
}Principles
- Official sources only. Every record comes from a national regulator, ministry or agency, collected as the publisher released it.
- Sources stay independent. Medifontis never merges records or relates them by name. Different sources can describe the same medicine.
- Unknown stays unknown. When a source does not say whether a medicine needs a prescription, is marketed or is reimbursed, the record says unknown rather than guessing.
- Provenance travels with the data. Each record states its source URL, retrieval time, licence and limitations.