Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

This is a preview of updates coming to the Technical Bulletin's website in early December 2025. Return to current site.
Read more about the modernization release schedule in this announcement.
Comment via the yellow feedback button in the lower right hand corner of the page. Contact the NLM Help Desk with any questions or concerns.

This is archived content.

Links may have become inactive over time. Visit Archive-It   to find the original published layout.

RxNorm Now Issued in Weekly and Monthly Releases

Nelson S. RxNorm Now Issued in Weekly and Monthly Releases. NLM Tech Bull. 2008 Nov-Dec (365):e19.

December 15, 2008 [posted]

RxNorm began issuing a weekly update release; effective in October 2008. This weekly release is only an addition to the most recent full release, which occurs monthly. The weekly update includes new information obtained through the FDA Structured Product Labels sent to the National Library of Medicine® (NLM®) DailyMed Web site, including NDCs (National Drug Codes) for existing products, or information about newly approved drugs, as well as appropriate RxNorm forms for new drugs. Other sources of information, such as suggestions from the Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services, product announcements, and other public information may also be used to create new forms and add attributes of clinical drug products. Weekly releases will, in general, include any information received by the preceding Friday.

The monthly releases of RxNorm are complete and include all information previously received, such as modifications due to correction of errors, updated information from other sources, historical information, and other work that has been accomplished. Each monthly release constitutes a full replacement of all the information in the previous releases. The full release is consistent with the extant Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) Metathesaurus version, and includes UMLS CUIs (Concept Unique Identifiers) where appropriate.

NLM plans to issue full monthly RxNorm releases on the first Monday of every month, excepting holidays, and to issue weekly releases every Wednesday. Twice a year (generally April and November) the full monthly release of RxNorm may precede a new release of the UMLS by days or weeks. The goal is to issue RxNorm on a regular schedule, and try to incorporate the changes to be consistent with the new UMLS releases as rapidly as possible.