Data Sources & Update Cadence

We don't ask you to take our word for it. Here's exactly which professionally maintained databases power HelloPharmacist, how current each one is, what it powers, and its limitations.

Last reviewed June 2026

HelloPharmacist is built on the same authoritative, professionally maintained databases that hospitals, clinicians, and regulators rely on — combined with the judgment of a licensed pharmacist. Some sources are public (government / NIH); others are licensed under commercial agreements. Below is each source, why we use it, how often we refresh it, what it powers on the site, and its limitations.

At a glance

Source	Type	Refresh cadence	What it powers
Natural Medicines	Licensed	Weekly	Supplement & herbal interactions
NIH DSLD	Public	Weekly	Supplement products, brands, ingredients
RxNorm (NLM)	Public	Monthly	Drug-name normalization
FDA NDC / SPL · DailyMed	Public	Regularly	NDC / GPI / product lookups
MedlinePlus	Public	Live lookup	Patient-facing explanations
HCPCS (CMS)	Public	CMS cycles	J-code lookup
Elsevier GSDD	Licensed	Maintained	Drug overviews & drug–drug interactions
DDInter 2.0	Open access	Curated manually	Drug–drug interaction library

Each source in detail

Natural Medicines — Therapeutic Research Center (Licensed)

The gold-standard, evidence-graded database for dietary supplements and herbs. Powers: our drug–supplement and herbal interaction ratings, pregnancy & lactation safety data, and the cited references behind each rating. Refreshed weekly. Limitations: proprietary content accessed under license; evidence-graded but not exhaustive, and not a substitute for clinical judgment.

NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) (Public)

The U.S. National Institutes of Health's official database of dietary-supplement product labels. Powers: the supplement products, brands, and ingredient panels you search across the site. Refreshed weekly. Limitations: reflects labels as submitted to NIH; may lag real-world reformulations, and not every product on the market is captured.

RxNorm — NIH National Library of Medicine (Public)

The NLM's normalized naming system for clinical drugs. Powers: drug-name normalization and matching so the same medication maps cleanly across every data source we use. Refreshed monthly. Limitations: provides naming/normalization only — not drug–drug interaction data. (The NLM's RxNav drug–drug interaction API was discontinued on January 2, 2024; our interaction content comes from the dedicated sources noted below.)

FDA NDC Directory & Structured Product Labels · DailyMed (Public)

Official FDA drug codes, labeler/packaging details, and approved product labeling. Powers: our NDC, GPI, and product-lookup tools and the labeling shown on drug-code pages. Refreshed regularly from FDA/DailyMed. Limitations: codes and labeler/packaging data change over time; this is regulatory/labeling data, not pricing or clinical advice.

MedlinePlus — NIH National Library of Medicine (Public)

Consumer-friendly drug and health information from the NIH. Powers: trusted, plain-language patient explanations that enrich our medication pages. Refreshed via live lookup at time of view. Limitations: general consumer information — not personalized to your history or condition.

HCPCS (J-Code) Descriptors — CMS (Public)

Official Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System descriptors from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Powers: our J-code drug lookup for billing and reimbursement reference. Refreshed on CMS coding cycles. Limitations: a coding/reimbursement reference — not clinical guidance or a substitute for payer policy.

Elsevier Gold Standard Drug Database (GSDD) (Licensed)

Licensed clinical drug content used by more than 1,500 U.S. hospitals and 35,000 pharmacies. Powers: drug overviews and our medication (drug–drug) interaction information. Maintained by Elsevier and displayed under a non-exclusive license. Limitations: proprietary content shown with permission; broad but not infinite in scope.

DDInter 2.0 (Open access)

A major open-access, open-source database designed specifically for analyzing drug–drug, drug–food, and drug–disease interactions. Its second major release, DDInter 2.0, greatly expanded the original's capabilities to support clinical decision-making and patient safety. Powers: part of our drug–drug interaction library, where entries are manually curated from DDInter by our pharmacist team and re-verified against the primary literature. Refreshed through our manual curation cycles. Limitations: open-access research data — curated and reviewed before publication here, and not a substitute for clinical judgment.

Where our interaction data comes from. Because the NLM retired RxNav's drug–drug interaction API in January 2024, we do not rely on it for interactions. Our drug–supplement and herbal interactions are graded from Natural Medicines, and our drug–drug interaction information draws on licensed clinical drug data (Elsevier Gold Standard Drug Database) alongside DDInter 2.0, the open-access drug-interaction database our pharmacist team manually curates from. RxNorm is used only to normalize drug names so the same medication matches consistently across these sources.

How we keep it current

Our background jobs refresh each source on the recurring schedule shown above, so the information you read reflects current evidence. Wherever we make a specific safety claim, we cite it — inline references throughout our articles and interaction pages link back to these sources so you can verify anything for yourself. You can read more about how content is written and reviewed in our Editorial & Medical Review Policy. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll review it.

Medical disclaimer. These sources power general educational information and are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or pharmacist about your medications and any medical condition.