RxNorm May 2020 Release

RxNorm May 2020 Release. NLM Tech Bull. 2020 May-Jun;(434):b2.

The RxNorm May full monthly release and release notes are available as of Monday, May 4, 2020 and is consistent with the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) 2020AA release. The May release includes a reduction in active National Drug Codes (NDCs); ingredients and precise ingredients are also now lower case.

Over 2,500 NDCs are no longer active in the RxNorm dataset based on package marketing status in the FDA Structured Product Labeling (MTHSPL) data source. The SUPPRESS value for these NDCs in the RXNSAT.RRF file changed from SUPPRESS = 'N' in the RxNorm April 2020 release to SUPPRESS = 'Y' in the May 2020 release.

Ingredients, with term type equal to 'IN' (TTY='IN'), and precise ingredients (TTY = 'PIN') are now represented with lower case lettering when the ingredient is not a proper noun. This impacts over 6,500 ingredients and precise ingredients. For example, in the RxNorm April 2020 release, the RxNorm vocabulary (SAB='RXNORM') represented RXCUI 161 as "Acetaminophen." Beginning with the May 2020 release, RXCUI 161 is now represented as "acetaminophen."