The National Drug Code Directory is FDA's list of drug products by their NDC numbers. Here is how to do an NDC lookup on FDA's site and through openFDA, how to read the code, what a listing does not mean, and how ClinicaLister ties each NDC to the drug's approval, label, price and shortages.
Every drug a company lists with FDA gets a National Drug Code: a unique number in three segments that identify the labeler, the product (strength, dosage form and formulation) and the package size. The NDC Directory publishes those listings, built from the Structured Product Labeling files companies submit.
It covers finished drugs — prescription and over-the-counter, approved and unapproved, including repackaged and relabeled products — as well as unfinished drugs and compounded products reported by outsourcing facilities. Each entry carries the proprietary and nonproprietary names, labeler, dosage form, route, active ingredients and strengths, marketing category (NDA, ANDA, BLA, OTC monograph and others), application number and packages.
Pharmacies, wholesalers, payers and market-access teams use NDCs every day because claims, pricing benchmarks and shortage lists are all keyed by them.
FDA offers a web search for each product type, downloadable files and an openFDA endpoint.
On FDA's NDC Directory search, choose finished, unfinished or compounded products. Most lookups are for finished products.
For finished products you can search by proprietary name, nonproprietary name, NDC code, labeler or application number. Enter the product NDC (labeler and product segments, for example 0002-1506) to land on one product and its packages.
A product lists each of its packages with a full package NDC and description. The 10-digit code can be split 4-4-2, 5-3-2 or 5-4-1, so match the segments rather than the raw digits; billing systems often pad it to an 11-digit 5-4-2 form.
https://api.fda.gov/drug/ndc.json returns listings as JSON — for example search=brand_name:"Mounjaro" — and includes linked fields such as the RxNorm and UNII codes where openFDA could match them.
The whole directory is published as zipped text and Excel files, with separate files for unfinished, compounded and excluded drugs.
ClinicaLister links NDC listings to their Drugs@FDA application by application number, so a package code leads straight to the approval, the label and the molecule.
NADAC acquisition-cost prices match NDCs exactly for about 97% of priced codes, and FDA shortage records are linked through their package NDCs, so market-access questions start from one record.
When a listing leaves FDA's file, ClinicaLister marks it inactive instead of deleting it, so an NDC from an older dataset still resolves to a product.
Through the molecule, an NDC connects to the drug's clinical trials, its EMA authorisation and its safety summary — useful when a payer question turns into a pipeline question.
Through the ClinicaLister MCP server an assistant can look up NDC products and pricing together with the drug's approvals and trials.
120,000+
NDC product listings
Daily
sync from FDA's NDC files
97%
of NADAC prices matched to an NDC
ClinicaLister loads FDA's full NDC Directory (prescription and over-the-counter) daily; listings that leave FDA's file are kept and flagged inactive. Counts measured September 2026.
Use FDA's NDC Directory search and enter the NDC code, or search by drug name, labeler or application number. The product page lists every package NDC for that product.
No. FDA states that assigning an NDC does not denote FDA approval. Check the marketing category and application number, then look the application up in Drugs@FDA.
FDA assigns 10-digit codes in three segments (4-4-2, 5-3-2 or 5-4-1). Many billing and pricing systems pad them to 11 digits in a 5-4-2 layout by adding a leading zero to one segment.
The NDC Directory has no prices. For Medicaid's national average acquisition cost, look the NDC up in the CMS NADAC file; ClinicaLister shows the NADAC price on the NDC's record where one exists.
FDA updates the NDC Directory daily. ClinicaLister syncs it daily as well.
Go from an NDC to the drug's approval, price and pipeline
Built for the Market Access / HEOR. See it in the product: Drug & Device Details. All data sources