Generic Product Identifier - Drug Identifier

The Generic Product Identifier (GPI) is a 14-character hierarchical classification system that identifies drugs from their primary therapeutic use down to the unique interchangeable product regardless of manufacturer or package size. The code consists of seven subsets, each providing increasingly more specific information about a drug available with a prescription in the United States.

The first six characters of the GPI define the therapeutic class code, the next two pairs the drug name, and the last four define route, dosage or strength. For example GPI 58-20-00-60-10-01-05 is for the drug Nortriptyline HCL cap 10 mg (an antidepressant) and can be further classified as follows:

      58                    Drug group          Antidepressants      58-20                 Drug class          Tricyclic agents      58-20-00              Drug sub-class      58-20-00-60           Drug name           Nortriptyline      58-20-00-60-10        Drug name extension Hydrochloride      58-20-00-60-10-01     Dosage form         Capsule      58-20-00-60-10-01-05  Strength            10 mg  

Alternate drug classification systems include the AHFS Drug Information brand run by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and First DataBank's Generic Sequence Number (GSN).

Wolters Kluwer provides a database under the Medi-Span brand called Medispan Electronic Drug File that links this code to other prescription drug classification codes commonly used for payment and analysis in the United States Health Care System, as well as embedded drug information like adverse drug effects.

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