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Medical APIs

A comprehensive medical MCP server that aggregates data from authoritative sources like the FDA, WHO, PubMed, RxNorm, and Australia's PBS to provide clinical decision support and drug research capabilities.

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Aug 22, 2025
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Medical MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server (Streamable HTTP transport) that provides comprehensive medical information by querying multiple authoritative sources: FDA, WHO, PubMed, RxNorm, Google Scholar (with optional SerpAPI), and Australia's PBS Public API.

Features

This MCP server offers 22 medical tools organized by capability:

🔍 Drug Information (FDA)

  • search-drugs - Search FDA drug database
  • get-drug-details - Get detailed drug info by NDC

📊 Health Statistics (WHO)

  • get-health-statistics - WHO Global Health Observatory data
  • list-who-indicators - Discover available health indicators

📚 Medical Literature

  • search-medical-literature - PubMed research articles
  • search-google-scholar - Academic papers via Google Scholar

💊 Drug Nomenclature (RxNorm)

  • search-drug-nomenclature - Standardized drug names and codes

🇦🇺 Australian PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)

  • pbs-get-latest-schedule - Get current PBS schedule code
  • pbs-list-schedules - List PBS schedules
  • pbs-get-item - Get PBS item by code
  • pbs-search-item-overview - Search PBS items with filters
  • pbs-search - General PBS API search
  • pbs-get-fees-for-item - Get PBS fees for specific items
  • pbs-list-dispensing-rules - List PBS dispensing rules
  • pbs-get-organisation-for-item - Get manufacturer info
  • pbs-get-copayments - Get PBS copayment information
  • pbs-get-restrictions-for-item - Get PBS restriction details
  • pbs-get-schedule-effective-date - Get schedule effective dates
  • pbs-list-programs - List PBS programs
  • pbs-get-item-restrictions - Get detailed item restrictions

💊 Drug Information Tools

search-drugs

Search for drug information using the FDA database.

Input:

  • query (string): Drug name to search for (brand name or generic name)
  • limit (optional, number): Number of results to return (1-50, default: 10)

Output:

  • Drug information including brand name, generic name, manufacturer, route, dosage form, and purpose

Example:

Drug Search Results for "Advil"

Found 1 drug(s)

1. **ADVIL**
   Generic Name: IBUPROFEN
   Manufacturer: PFIZER CONSUMER HEALTHCARE
   Route: ORAL
   Dosage Form: TABLET
   Purpose: For temporary relief of minor aches and pains...
   Last Updated: 20210902

get-drug-details

Get detailed information about a specific drug by NDC (National Drug Code).

Input:

  • ndc (string): National Drug Code (NDC) of the drug

Output:

  • Comprehensive drug information including warnings, drug interactions, and clinical pharmacology

📊 Health Statistics Tools

get-health-statistics

Get health statistics and indicators from WHO Global Health Observatory.

Input:

  • indicator (string): Health indicator to search for (e.g., 'Life expectancy', 'Mortality rate')
  • country (optional, string): Country code (e.g., 'USA', 'GBR')
  • limit (optional, number): Number of results to return (1-20, default: 10)

Output:

  • Health statistics with values, ranges, and temporal data

Example:

Health Statistics: Life expectancy at birth (years)

Country: USA
Found 10 data points

1. **USA** (2019)
   Value: 78.5 years
   Numeric Value: 78.5
   Date: 2019-12-31

🔬 Medical Literature Tools

search-medical-literature

Search for medical research articles in PubMed.

Input:

  • query (string): Medical topic or condition to search for
  • max_results (optional, number): Maximum number of articles to return (1-20, default: 10)

Output:

  • Medical research articles with titles, PMIDs, journals, and publication dates

Example:

Medical Literature Search: "diabetes treatment"

Found 10 article(s)

1. **Novel Approaches to Diabetes Management**
   PMID: 12345678
   Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
   Publication Date: 2024-01-15

search-google-scholar

Search for academic research articles using Google Scholar. If you set SERPAPI_KEY in your environment, the server will use SerpAPI's Google Scholar engine first and fall back to scraping as needed.

Input:

  • query (string): Academic topic or research query to search for

Output:

  • Academic research articles with titles, authors, abstracts, journals, years, citations, and URLs

Example:

Google Scholar Search: "machine learning healthcare"

Found 10 article(s)

1. **Machine Learning in Healthcare: A Systematic Review**
   Authors: Smith J, Johnson A - Journal of Medical AI
   Year: 2023
   Citations: Cited by 45
   URL: https://scholar.google.com/...
   Abstract: This systematic review examines the application of machine learning...

Note: This tool uses web scraping to access Google Scholar since it doesn't provide a public API. It includes rate limiting protection and stealth measures to avoid detection.

🏥 Drug Nomenclature Tools

search-drug-nomenclature

Search for drug information using RxNorm (standardized drug nomenclature).

Input:

  • query (string): Drug name to search for in RxNorm database

Output:

  • Standardized drug information with RxCUI codes, synonyms, and term types

🇦🇺 Australia Extensions

list-who-indicators

Search WHO indicator names/codes to find the exact indicator to use.

Input:

  • query (string): keyword to search

pbs-list-schedules

List PBS schedules (optionally only the latest schedule).

Input:

  • limit (number, default 5)
  • latest_only (boolean, default true): if true, returns only the latest schedule code

Output: compact lines like 2025-AUGUST — schedule_code 3773 (status: PUBLISHED)

pbs-get-item

Fetch PBS item(s) by pbs_item_code and optional schedule_code.

Input:

  • pbs_item_code (string): e.g. 12210P
  • schedule_code (string, optional)
  • limit (number, default 5)

Output: concise summary lines like Panadol [12210P] (schedule 4489) — pack 10

pbs-search-item-overview

Search PBS item-overview using a simple ODATA-like filter. Supports:

  • Equality: brand_name eq 'PANADOL', li_drug_name eq 'PARACETAMOL'
  • contains(field, 'VALUE') is approximated via equality if needed

If the API rejects the filter, the tool falls back to /items with the same params and still summarizes results.

Input:

  • filter (string): e.g., brand_name eq 'PANADOL'
  • limit (number, default 5)

pbs-search

Query Australia's public PBS API (rate-limited by PBS; roughly one request per ~20s across all users).

Input:

  • endpoint (string): one of schedules, items, item-overview, organisations, fees
  • params (object, optional): common filter params are accepted and validated per endpoint (e.g., pbs_code, brand_name, li_drug_name, schedule_code, program_code, limit, page, sort, fields)

Output: readable summaries per endpoint (items and item-overview summarized like Brand [PBS_CODE] (schedule X) — pack Y).

pbs-get-fees-for-item

Fetch PBS fees by resolving an item's program_code, optionally for a specific schedule_code.

Input:

  • pbs_item_code (string): e.g. 12210P
  • schedule_code (string, optional): if omitted, uses the schedule of the resolved item

Output: fee lines, e.g., Dispensing fee (ready prepared): 8.88, etc.

Environment variables (AU helpers):

  • DEFAULT_COUNTRY_ISO3 (optional): e.g., AUS to default WHO queries to Australia when no country provided
  • PBS_API_BASE (required for PBS): e.g. https://data-api.health.gov.au/pbs/api/v3
  • PBS_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY (optional): public key per docs or your own

Installation

  1. Clone this repository:
git clone <repository-url>
cd medical-mcp
  1. Install dependencies:
npm install
  1. Build the project:
npm run build
  1. Configure environment variables:
# Copy the example environment file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env with your preferred settings
# The default values will work for basic usage

MCP Client Configuration

Option 1: Streamable HTTP (Recommended)

Add to your MCP client configuration (e.g., ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "medical-mcp": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3200/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Start the server manually:

PORT=3200 node build/index.js

Option 2: stdio Transport

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "medical-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/medical-mcp/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PBS_API_BASE": "https://data-api.health.gov.au/pbs/api/v3",
        "PBS_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY": "2384af7c667342ceb5a736fe29f1dc6b",
        "DEFAULT_COUNTRY_ISO3": "AUS"
      }
    }
  }
}

The server will be started automatically by the MCP client.

Usage

Running the Server (Streamable HTTP)

Start the MCP server (Streamable HTTP transport):

npm run build && node build/index.js

Environment variables (see also .env.example):

Core Configuration:

  • PORT (default: 3000) - Server port
  • HOST (default: 127.0.0.1) - Server host
  • NODE_ENV - Set to production to enable security features

MCP Lifecycle Configuration:

  • MCP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT (default: 30000) - Request timeout in milliseconds (max: 300000)

Security Configuration:

  • ENABLE_DNS_REBINDING_PROTECTION (default: false, true in production) - Enable DNS rebinding attack protection
  • ALLOWED_ORIGINS (optional) - Comma-separated list of allowed origins for CORS (when DNS rebinding protection is enabled)

API Configuration:

  • SERPAPI_KEY (optional): Use SerpAPI for Google Scholar with fallback to scraping
  • DEFAULT_COUNTRY_ISO3 (optional): e.g. AUS to default WHO queries to Australia
  • PBS_API_BASE (required for PBS): e.g. https://data-api.health.gov.au/pbs/api/v3
  • PBS_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY (required by API gateway): provide your key. The public docs mention an unregistered key 2384af7c667342ceb5a736fe29f1dc6b, but it is not baked into this codebase; set via env.
  • PBS_MIN_INTERVAL_MS (default: 20000): minimum delay between PBS requests (global throttle)
  • PBS_CACHE_TTL_MS (default: 300000): PBS GET cache TTL in ms
  • USER_AGENT (default: medical-mcp/1.0)
  • Optional API base overrides: FDA_API_BASE, WHO_API_BASE, RXNAV_API_BASE, PUBMED_API_BASE, GOOGLE_SCHOLAR_API_BASE

Config constants

These are read from env via src/constants.ts:

  • PBS_API_BASE
  • DEFAULT_COUNTRY_ISO3

Once started:

  • MCP endpoint: http://HOST:PORT/mcp
    • POST - Send JSON-RPC requests/responses/notifications
    • GET - Open SSE stream for server-initiated messages (if supported by transport)
    • DELETE - Terminate MCP session (requires Mcp-Session-Id header)
  • Health check: GET http://HOST:PORT/health

Point your MCP client to the /mcp endpoint. The server uses Streamable HTTP transport with automatic session management.

MCP Protocol Compliance

This server implements the MCP Protocol Version 2025-06-18 specification with full Streamable HTTP transport support:

Supported Features

  • ✅ Streamable HTTP Transport - Modern HTTP-based transport with SSE support
  • ✅ Session Management - Automatic session handling with Mcp-Session-Id headers
  • ✅ Protocol Version Negotiation - Supports MCP-Protocol-Version header validation
  • ✅ MCP Lifecycle Compliance - Full initialization, operation, and shutdown phases
  • ✅ Capability Negotiation - Proper server capability declaration and negotiation
  • ✅ MCP Tools Specification - Full compliance with tools specification including structured content
  • ✅ Request Timeout Handling - Configurable timeouts to prevent hung connections
  • ✅ Graceful Shutdown - Signal handlers for SIGTERM, SIGINT, SIGHUP with transport cleanup
  • ✅ Security Features - DNS rebinding protection and Origin header validation
  • ✅ Session Termination - HTTP DELETE support for explicit session cleanup
  • ✅ Error Handling - Proper JSON-RPC error responses with MCP error codes
  • ✅ Structured Logging - Comprehensive lifecycle event logging to stderr

Security Features

DNS Rebinding Protection: Automatically enabled in production (NODE_ENV=production) to prevent DNS rebinding attacks. Validates Origin headers against allowed origins.

Origin Validation: Configurable via ALLOWED_ORIGINS environment variable for additional security in production environments.

Session Security: Cryptographically secure session IDs using randomUUID() for session management.

MCP Lifecycle Implementation

This server follows the complete MCP lifecycle specification:

1. Initialization Phase

  • Protocol Version Negotiation: Supports versions 2025-06-18 and 2025-03-26 with automatic fallback
  • Capability Declaration: Declares support for tools and logging capabilities
  • Error Handling: Proper JSON-RPC error responses for unsupported protocol versions
  • Structured Logging: All initialization events logged with timestamps and details

2. Operation Phase

  • Request Handling: Full JSON-RPC request/response processing
  • Tool Execution: 22+ medical information tools with comprehensive error handling
  • Timeout Management: Configurable request timeouts (default: 30s, max: 5min)
  • Session Management: Automatic session tracking and cleanup

3. Shutdown Phase

  • Graceful Shutdown: Responds to SIGTERM, SIGINT, SIGHUP signals
  • Transport Cleanup: Closes all active MCP sessions before server shutdown
  • Force Exit Protection: 10-second timeout to prevent hung shutdown processes
  • Error Recovery: Handles uncaught exceptions and unhandled promise rejections

Lifecycle Event Logging

All lifecycle events are logged to stderr in JSON format with structured data:

{
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z", 
  "phase": "initialization",
  "server": "medical-mcp",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "event": "protocol_version_negotiated",
  "negotiatedVersion": "2025-06-18"
}

Event types include:

  • protocol_version_negotiated - Version negotiation complete
  • session_initialized - New MCP session started
  • session_terminated - MCP session ended
  • server_started - HTTP server listening
  • shutdown_initiated - Graceful shutdown started
  • shutdown_complete - Server shutdown finished

MCP Tools Implementation

This server implements 23+ medical tools with full compliance to the MCP Tools specification:

Tool Features

  • Proper Error Handling: Distinguishes between protocol errors and tool execution errors using isError flag
  • Input Validation: Enhanced validation and sanitization of all tool inputs
  • Structured Content: Tools return both human-readable text and structured data for programmatic processing
  • Content Annotations: Tool responses include audience targeting and priority metadata
  • Rate Limiting: Built-in rate limiting to prevent abuse and respect API quotas
  • Security Compliance: All tools validate inputs, sanitize outputs, and implement proper access controls

Tool Categories

🔍 Drug Information (FDA)

  • search-drugs - Search FDA drug database with enhanced input validation
  • get-drug-details - Get detailed drug info by NDC with structured output

📊 Health Statistics (WHO)

  • get-health-statistics - WHO Global Health Observatory data with structured content
  • list-who-indicators - Discover available health indicators

📚 Medical Literature

  • search-medical-literature - PubMed research articles with rate limiting
  • search-google-scholar - Academic papers via Google Scholar

💊 Drug Nomenclature (RxNorm)

  • search-drug-nomenclature - Standardized drug names and codes

🇦🇺 Australian PBS (15+ tools)

  • Comprehensive PBS data access with proper error handling and validation

Tool Security Implementation

All tools implement the security considerations from the MCP Tools specification:

  1. Input Validation: All tool inputs are validated and sanitized
  2. Access Controls: Proper authentication and authorization where applicable
  3. Rate Limiting: Tools implement rate limiting to prevent abuse
  4. Output Sanitization: All tool outputs are sanitized before returning
  5. Error Handling: Distinguishes between protocol and execution errors
  6. Audit Logging: Tool usage is logged for security monitoring

Example Queries

Here are some example queries you can make with this MCP server:

Search for Drug Information

{
  "tool": "search-drugs",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "Tylenol",
    "limit": 5
  }
}

Get Drug Details by NDC

{
  "tool": "get-drug-details",
  "arguments": {
    "ndc": "00071015527"
  }
}

Get Health Statistics

{
  "tool": "get-health-statistics",
  "arguments": {
    "indicator": "Life expectancy at birth (years)",
    "country": "USA",
    "limit": 5
  }
}

Search Medical Literature

{
  "tool": "search-medical-literature",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "COVID-19 treatment",
    "max_results": 10
  }
}

PBS: List schedules (latest only)

{
  "tool": "pbs-list-schedules",
  "arguments": { "limit": 1, "latest_only": true }
}

PBS: Find PANADOL in item-overview

{
  "tool": "pbs-search-item-overview",
  "arguments": { "filter": "brand_name eq 'PANADOL'", "limit": 3 }
}

PBS: Get item by PBS item code

{
  "tool": "pbs-get-item",
  "arguments": { "pbs_item_code": "12210P", "limit": 2 }
}

PBS: Fees for item

{
  "tool": "pbs-get-fees-for-item",
  "arguments": { "pbs_item_code": "12210P" }
}

Search Drug Nomenclature

{
  "tool": "search-drug-nomenclature",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "aspirin"
  }
}

API Endpoints

This MCP server integrates with the following medical APIs:

FDA API

  • GET /drug/label.json - Drug labeling information
  • Search by brand name, generic name, or NDC
  • Provides safety information, warnings, and clinical data

WHO Global Health Observatory API

  • GET /api/Indicator - Health statistics and indicators
  • Global health data with country-specific information
  • Temporal data for trend analysis

PubMed API

  • GET /esearch.fcgi - Search for medical articles
  • GET /efetch.fcgi - Retrieve article details
  • Access to millions of medical research papers

RxNorm API

  • GET /REST/drugs.json - Standardized drug nomenclature
  • Drug name standardization and relationships
  • Clinical drug information

Google Scholar (Web Scraping + Optional SerpAPI)

  • Web scraping of Google Scholar search results (default)
  • Academic research article discovery
  • Citation and publication information
  • Note: Uses Puppeteer for browser automation with anti-detection measures
  • Optional SerpAPI integration via SERPAPI_KEY to improve reliability

Australian PBS Public API

  • GET /api/v3/schedules — Schedule metadata (latest schedule code, effective dates)
  • GET /api/v3/items — Item listings (filter by pbs_code, brand_name, li_drug_name, schedule_code, etc.)
  • GET /api/v3/item-overview — Extended item view (filtered similarly)
  • GET /api/v3/organisations — Manufacturer/responsible party lookup
  • GET /api/v3/fees — Fees by program_code (and optional schedule_code)

Convenience wrappers and validations

  • All PBS tools validate pbs_item_code (format like 12210P) and numeric schedule_code.
  • pbs-get-restrictions-for-item now returns composite restriction text grouped and cleaned for readability.
  • Most composed tools use caching to minimize API calls and respect PBS rate limits.

Data Sources

FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

  • Source: Official FDA drug labeling database
  • Coverage: All FDA-approved drugs in the United States
  • Data: Drug safety, efficacy, dosage, warnings, and interactions
  • Update Frequency: Real-time as drugs are approved or labeling changes

WHO (World Health Organization)

  • Source: Global Health Observatory database
  • Coverage: Global health statistics from 194 countries
  • Data: Life expectancy, mortality rates, disease prevalence, and health indicators
  • Update Frequency: Annual updates with historical data

PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

  • Source: MEDLINE database of medical literature
  • Coverage: Over 30 million citations from medical journals
  • Data: Research articles, clinical studies, and medical reviews
  • Update Frequency: Daily updates as new articles are published

RxNorm (National Library of Medicine)

  • Source: Standardized drug nomenclature system
  • Coverage: Clinical drugs available in the United States
  • Data: Drug names, codes, relationships, and clinical information
  • Update Frequency: Weekly updates

Google Scholar (Web Scraping)

  • Source: Google Scholar academic search engine
  • Coverage: Academic papers, theses, books, and abstracts across all disciplines
  • Data: Research articles, citations, authors, journals, and publication dates
  • Update Frequency: Real-time as new papers are indexed
  • Note: Access via web scraping with rate limiting protection

PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) - Australia

  • Source: Australian Government Department of Health PBS Public API
  • Coverage: All medications subsidized under Australia's PBS
  • Data: Drug schedules, pricing, restrictions, dispensing rules, and manufacturer information
  • Update Frequency: Regular updates as PBS schedules are published
  • API Base: https://data-api.health.gov.au/pbs/api/v3
  • Rate Limits: Approximately 1 request per 20 seconds (globally throttled)

Error Handling

The server includes comprehensive error handling:

  • Network errors are caught and reported with descriptive messages
  • Invalid queries return appropriate error messages
  • Rate limiting and API errors are handled gracefully
  • Fallback responses when specific APIs are unavailable

Web Scraping Implementation

The Google Scholar integration uses Puppeteer for web scraping with the following features:

Anti-Detection Measures

  • Stealth Mode: Browser launched with multiple flags to avoid detection
  • User Agent Spoofing: Realistic browser user agent strings
  • Random Delays: Built-in delays between requests to avoid rate limiting
  • Header Spoofing: Realistic HTTP headers to appear as a regular browser
  • Viewport Settings: Standard desktop viewport dimensions

Robust Parsing

  • Multiple Selectors: Uses various CSS selectors to handle different Google Scholar layouts
  • Fallback Strategies: Multiple parsing approaches for different page structures
  • Error Recovery: Graceful handling of missing elements or changed page structures
  • Data Validation: Filters out incomplete or invalid results

Rate Limiting Protection

  • Random Delays: 1-3 second random delays between requests
  • Browser Management: Proper browser cleanup to prevent resource leaks
  • Timeout Handling: Configurable timeouts for network requests
  • Error Recovery: Automatic retry logic for failed requests

Medical Disclaimer

Important: This MCP server provides information from authoritative medical sources but should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals for medical decisions.

  • The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only
  • Drug information may not be complete or up-to-date for all medications
  • Health statistics are aggregated data and may not reflect individual circumstances
  • Medical literature should be interpreted by qualified healthcare professionals

Architecture

MCP Server Implementation

This server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) using the latest Streamable HTTP transport:

  • Transport: Streamable HTTP (modern, replacing deprecated SSE transport)
  • Session Management: Automatic session handling with mcp-session-id headers
  • Tool Registration: Uses server.registerTool() with structured schemas
  • Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with graceful fallbacks
  • Rate Limiting: Built-in PBS API throttling and caching

API Integration

The server integrates with multiple authoritative medical APIs:

  • FDA API: Real-time drug labeling and safety information
  • WHO GHO: Global health statistics and indicators
  • PubMed: Medical research literature database
  • RxNorm: Standardized drug nomenclature system
  • PBS API: Australian pharmaceutical benefits information
  • Google Scholar: Academic research via web scraping + optional SerpAPI

Dependencies

  • @modelcontextprotocol/sdk - MCP SDK for server implementation
  • superagent - HTTP client for API requests
  • puppeteer - Browser automation for web scraping Google Scholar
  • zod - Schema validation for tool parameters
  • crypto - Session ID generation for MCP sessions

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.

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