# /pmda/drugs/by_general_name

`POST /api/pmda/drugs/by_general_name`

Price: 5 credits

List every package insert the Japanese register holds under one general-name code — that is, every manufacturer's version of the same substance and dosage form. Each entry carries the brand name, the marketing authorisation holder and distributors with their roles, the insert's revision date with its PDF and XML links, the patient guide, interview form and drug-information-sheet links grouped as the register groups them, and the risk management plan and its materials for professionals and for patients.

## How to use it

This is the originator-to-generics view: one call returns every manufacturer selling under the same general-name code, which a name search reaches only where the brand names happen to share a string. Take `general_name_code` from a pmda/drugs/search result, or pass a full YJ code and its prefix is read off it; a package insert doc_id does not work, since its leading segment is the manufacturer code rather than the YJ code. The code identifies the substance together with its dosage form, so tablets and an injection of the same molecule sit under different codes. Feed `id` to pmda/drugs/package_insert for the insert's text.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `general_name_code` (string, required) — The 7-character general-name prefix of a YJ code. A full YJ code is accepted too and its prefix is taken; a package insert doc_id is not, because its leading segment is the manufacturer code, not the YJ code (examples: "1149019", "4291435", "1141700"; minLength: 1)
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of package inserts to return (min: 1)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaGeneralNameEntry")
- `id` (string, required)
- `general_name_code` (string) (default: "")
- `generic_name` (string) (default: "")
- `brand_name` (string) (default: "")
- `companies` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaCompany")
  - `role` (string) (default: "")
  - `name` (string) (default: "")
- `package_insert_revised_date` (string, nullable)
- `package_insert_pdf_url` (string) (default: "")
- `package_insert_xml_url` (string) (default: "")
- `related_documents` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaRelatedDocument")
  - `group` (string) (default: "")
  - `document_title` (string) (default: "")
  - `url` (string) (default: "")
- `risk_management_plans` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaDocumentLink")
  - `document_title` (string) (default: "")
  - `url` (string) (default: "")
- `rmp_materials_for_professionals` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaDocumentLink")
  - `document_title` (string) (default: "")
  - `url` (string) (default: "")
- `rmp_materials_for_patients` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "PmdaDocumentLink")
  - `document_title` (string) (default: "")
  - `url` (string) (default: "")

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

general_name_code was not a 7-character code and no code could be read from it.

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

No package insert is registered under that general-name code.

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.