openFDA API seems to be missing NDCs

Question

I have some NDCs that I want to search for on the openFDA API:

33992-8010-1
50058-100-08

...etc.

So this is what I've tried so far (all with base url api.fda.gov):

• drug/ndc.json?search=product_ndc:"33992-8010"
• drug/ndc.json?search=package_ndc:"33992-8010-1"
• drug/ndc.json?search=product_ndc:"33992-8010-1"
• drug/label.json?search=openfda.package_ndc.exact:"33992-8010-1"

...but nothing seems to work. All I get is this:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "No matches found!"
  }
}

However, if I use a different NDC, like 63653-1171-1, the query works fine. Is it possible that the NDCs I'm querying are just not in the database, or am I doing something wrong?

Answer 1

The two NDCs you mentioned are indeed not in the database. openFDA generates its NDC dataset from the downloadable files available at the FDA, and we have verified the two NDCs are not present in those files, which is why they are also missing from openFDA.

FDA National Drug Code Directory search does bring results for those two NDCs; however, they are marked as:

(E): This information was removed from publication, because FDA has found inaccuracy in the data submitted by the firm.

This is the reason the information is not present in the downloadable files.