I Built an API That Replaces Hours of FDA Drug Safety Analysis With One Call

pharma-signal — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:19:00 +0000

Last month I needed to answer a simple question: Is Ozempic safer than Mounjaro?

To answer that using public FDA data, I had to:

Query openFDA adverse events (54,647 raw records for Ozempic alone)
Query openFDA recalls (separate endpoint, different search syntax)
Query openFDA labels (third endpoint, another schema)
Repeat all three for Mounjaro
Cross-reference with SEC filings (fourth API)

That is 6+ API calls across 4 different systems. Hours of work for one question.

So we built an API that does it in one call.

One Call, One Answer

GET /intelligence/v2/compare?drugs=ozempic,mounjaro,trulicity

Response:

OZEMPIC (Novo Nordisk / NVO)
  Serious rate: 44.9%  |  Death rate: 1.58%  |  Recalls: 2

MOUNJARO (Eli Lilly / LLY)
  Serious rate: 7.3%   |  Death rate: 0.14%  |  Recalls: 0

Winner (lowest serious rate): MOUNJARO

Five seconds. Three drugs compared. Company linkage included automatically.

What Else It Does

This is not just a wrapper around openFDA. The engine combines data from 4 government sources and adds intelligence that does not exist anywhere else as an API:

Pharmacovigilance Signal Detection

Uses PRR and ROR to detect adverse reactions at disproportionate rates. For Keytruda, it found 44 safety signals including Tumour pseudoprogression (PRR=32.08).

Company Portfolio Risk

Query by stock ticker, get the full drug portfolio with individual risk scores.

AI Analyst Briefs

Claude-powered safety assessments combining all data sources into natural language.

Natural Language Query

Ask in plain English and get a structured, sourced answer.

The Numbers

358 drugs tracked
1,000,000+ adverse event reports from FDA FAERS
691 recalls, 2,221 label changes
156 biotech companies linked to SEC filings
25 API endpoints
19 MCP tools for AI agent integration

Try It

Free tier: 100 calls/day, no credit card.

MCP for AI Agents

Listed on the official MCP registry. 19 tools available.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pharma-signal": {
      "url": "https://api.pharma-signal.com/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

Feedback welcome. Real FDA data updated daily.

DEV Community: pharma-signal