National Medicinal Product Catalogue (NMPC)

Integrated medicine management means a patient's medicine information can be shared wherever they receive healthcare. The National Medicinal Product Catalogue (NMPC) helps make this possible. It gives healthcare workers 1 clear, standard list of medicine names and codes. Healthcare workers use this list when recording a patient's medicines.

It helps to improve:

• patient safety
• patient experience
• healthcare worker experience
• how healthcare data is shared

How the NMPC is used

NMPC is used in community and secondary care when managing a patient's medicines.

In primary care, it is used to share medicine information in:

• GP prescribing
• community pharmacy dispensing
• administration of medicines
• residential care

In secondary care, it is used to share medicine information in:

• admission assessment
• checking medical records
• checking and updating medicines
• prescribing medicines
• dispensing medicines
• monitoring and adjusting treatment
• writing hospital discharge summaries

Benefits of using the NMPC

Managing product information on the NMPC helps to:

• make sure products are correctly listed in national healthcare systems
• support consistent and safe use of medicines and devices
• add, update, or remove products in a controlled way
• reduce duplication and variation in product information across services

About the NMPC

The NMPC will be published in 2026. Then it will be updated every month. It includes information about virtual (sometimes called generic) and branded medicines. It is organised into 6 categories of information, called concepts.

The 6 concepts are:

• Virtual Therapeutic Moiety (VTM) - virtual medicine
• Actual Therapeutic Moiety (ATM) - branded version of a virtual medicine
• Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP) - virtual medicine with a specific strength and form
• Actual Medicinal Product (AMP) - branded medicine with a specific strength and form
• Virtual Medicinal Product Pack (VMPP) - virtual medicine with pack size details
• Actual Medicinal Product Pack (AMPP) - branded medicine with pack size details

To support the NMPC, we have created a portal for supplier product management.

Licensing

There are a number of licences and agreements that explain how different types of NMPC information can be accessed and used.

The NMPC End User Agreement explains the terms and conditions for accessing, downloading and sharing the NMPC.

The SNOMED-CT Affiliate Licence and the WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) User Conditions set out how specific parts of the NMPC data can be used.

Some information in the NMPC is not covered by these licences. This information is available under the Irish Open Data Licence (ODL), published by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

Open Data Licence (ODL) – data.gov.ie

This is a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This licence lets you use the data on medicines and devices in NMPC publications, as long as you clearly say where it came from.

Licences and agreements

• NMPC End User Licensing Agreement (PDF, 1.2 MB, 19 pages)
• SNOMED-CT Affiliate Licence (PDF, 308 KB, 19 pages)
• WHO ATC User Conditions (PDF, 164 KB, 2 pages)
• Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) Licence (PDF, 402 KB, 6 pages)

Contact NMPC

Email: nmpc@hse.ie