DrugBank MCP Server

Community MCP server that loads the DrugBank database into a local SQLite store and exposes 16 query methods for drug repurposing, drug-drug interactions, and structural similarity search.


Type	MCP server
Supplier	openpharma-org (community, unofficial)
Availability	GA — stable single-commit release
Pricing	MIT-licensed server; DrugBank data requires a separate user-supplied license (academic or commercial)
Capabilities	Read-only — local SQLite over 17,430 drugs (small molecules plus biologics)

How to install

Also packaged in the SciAgent-Skills collection (jaechang-hits (community OSS, CC BY 4.0)): clone jaechang-hits/SciAgent-Skills and run /plugin install sciagent-skills in Claude Code (or copy skills/structural-biology-drug-discovery/drugbank-database-access into ~/.claude/skills/).
```
git clone https://github.com/openpharma-org/drugbank-mcp-server
cd drugbank-mcp-server
npm install
npm run download:db   # requires you to have obtained the DrugBank XML separately
npm run build
```

Then add to claude_desktop_config.json (replace /path/to/drugbank-mcp-server with the absolute path of your clone — e.g., /Users/you/repos/drugbank-mcp-server):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drugbank": { "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/drugbank-mcp-server/build/index.js"] }
  }
}

For Claude Code, the equivalent registration is:

claude mcp add --transport stdio drugbank -- node /path/to/drugbank-mcp-server/build/index.js

What it does

16 query methods including:

search_by_name, get_drug_details
search_by_indication, search_by_target
get_drug_interactions
search_by_atc_code
get_pathways
search_by_structure, get_similar_drugs

Primary use cases: Drug repurposing by indication / target lookup, drug-drug interaction screening, structure / ATC similarity search.

Notes

Unofficial — verify against DrugBank’s current terms before use. The user must independently obtain the DrugBank XML (license-gated). Local stdio MCP; sub-10ms queries; ~50-100 MB RAM.

Sources

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