Collectors · Research & science

openFDA API in Python

Drug adverse-event reports from the FDA FAERS database — drugs, reactions, seriousness. One POST from Python with query, rows back as JSON with 22 fields, $0.0004 per delivered report. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the openfda collector returns one dict per report, at $0.0004 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/openfda/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "query": "ibuprofen",
        "max_results": 50,
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("report_id"), row.get("serious"), row.get("serious_reasons"), row.get("drugs"))

Python: one FDA adverse events (openFDA) run (Per farmaco), printing report_id, serious, serious_reasons, drugs

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the FDA adverse events (openFDA) collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`query`	string	yes	A drug name, or an openFDA field:value query.
`max_results`	integer	no (default 50)	How many reports to deliver at most (1–500). You pay only for delivered reports.

Response fields

22 fields per report.

Fields of each row (report)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position.
`report_id`	string	FAERS safety report id.
`serious`	boolean	Whether the report is flagged serious.
`serious_reasons`	string[]	Death, hospitalization, life-threatening…
`drugs`	string[]	Reported medicinal products.
`reactions`	string[]	Reactions (MedDRA terms).
`patient_sex`	string, nullable	male/female when reported.
`patient_age`	string, nullable	Patient age as reported.
`country`	string, nullable	Country of occurrence.
`received_date`	string, nullable	Received date (ISO).
`report_type`	string, nullable	Report type code.
`suspect_drugs`	string[]	Drugs the reporter held responsible.
`drug_roles`	string[]	Roles present in the report: suspect, concomitant, interacting.
`generic_names`	string[]	Generic names of the reported drugs.
`brand_names`	string[]	Brand names of the reported drugs.
`indications`	string[]	What the drugs were taken for.
`reaction_outcomes`	string[]	Outcomes of the reactions (recovered, fatal…).
`patient_age_years`	number, nullable	Patient age in years, when reported in years.
`patient_weight_kg`	number, nullable	Patient weight, kg.
`latest_update`	string, nullable	Date of the latest information on the report.
`reporter`	string, nullable	Who reported: physician, pharmacist, consumer…
`manufacturer_report_id`	string, nullable	Manufacturer's own report number.

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/openfda/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"query":"ibuprofen","max_results":50}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.0004 per delivered report.

What FDA adverse events (openFDA) rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.0004
1,000	$0.40
10,000	$4.00

Up to 500 reports per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 5,000 reports. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free FDA adverse events (openFDA) API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 5,000 reports of this collector at $0.0004 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 500 reports per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.0004 per delivered report, no subscription.

Get an API key openFDA API