Aggregations of Substance in Virtual Drug Models Based on ISO/CEN Standards for Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP).

In this study representation of chemical substances in IDMP is reviewed, with an exploration of aggregation levels for substance used in the virtual drug data models of RxNorm, SNOMED-CT, ATC/INN, and the Belgian SAM database, for products with a single substance and combinations of substances. Active moiety and available solid states forms are explored for diclofenac, amoxicillin, carbamazepine, amlodipine, with regard to their representation in coding systems such as WHODrug, SMS, UNII, CAS, and SNOMED-CT. By counting the number of medicinal products in Belgium for amlodipine in each level of aggregation, concepts for grouper of substances and two levels of grouper of medicinal products are illustrated. Recommendations are made for the further development of IDMP and its link to international drug classifications.