Definition
Plain language
A free public source of official U.S. drug and medical-product data.
As stated in the literature
The FDA's open API exposing structured drug labels, adverse events, and related regulatory data; a grounding source for medical tool-using agents.
Why it matters: It matters because it gives AI tools free access to authoritative drug data, so their answers rest on official records.
For example, a tool can query openFDA to pull the official label and reported side effects for a specific medication.
Heard on the show
“And the sources behind them are real, maintained public databases — openFDA's drug labels, Open Targets, DrugBank.”Episode 187 — An 8-Billion Agent That Beats Models 80 Times Its Size By Looking Things Up