From 203603b51d456a7d8c42f3052b21503c43bb9655 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mark Howison Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2018 10:19:06 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Update README.md --- README.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index ef970ad..e120804 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ -# Historical National Drug Codes +# Assembling a Historical National Drug Code Directory from the Internet Archive -This repositority provides a data-processing pipeline for downloading and collating historical archives of the [National Drug Code (NDC) Directory](https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/InformationOnDrugs/ucm142438.htm). The NDC Directory is only available as a current snapshot that is missing data on previously registered drugs. Also, the drug classification provided by the Directory has changed over time. Because of these inconsistencies and missing data, research with historical pharmacy claims data will have an increasing number of claims going back in time that cannot be matched on NDC code to drug data in the current Directory. The goal of this framework is to build an open-source, comprehensive list of historical NDC codes linked to their last known drug data and classification. As an example, we use the historical list of active ingredients genereated by the pipeline to create a classification of opioid drugs and recovery drugs used in medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. +This repositority provides a data-processing pipeline for downloading and collating historical archives of the [National Drug Code (NDC) Directory](https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/InformationOnDrugs/ucm142438.htm) from the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/). The NDC Directory is only available as a current snapshot that is missing data on previously registered drugs. Also, the drug classification provided by the Directory has changed over time. Because of these inconsistencies and missing data, research with historical pharmacy claims data will have an increasing number of claims going back in time that cannot be matched on NDC code to drug data in the current Directory. The goal of this framework is to build an open-source, comprehensive list of historical NDC codes linked to their last known drug data and classification. As an example, we use the historical list of active ingredients genereated by the pipeline to create a classification of opioid drugs and recovery drugs used in medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. The pipeline was developed to support research projects at [Research Improving People's Lives](https://ripl.org).