This paper describes the development and evaluation of a Canadian drug ontology (OCRx), built to provide a normalized and standardized description of drugs that are authorized to be marketed in Canada. OCRx aims to improve the usability and interoperability of drugs terminologies for a non-ambiguous access to drugs information that is available in electronic health record systems. We present the first release of OCRx that is described in Web Ontology Language and aligned to the Identification of Medicinal Product (IDMP) standards. For comparison purposes, OCRx is mapped to RxNorm, its US variant.
Keywords: IDMP; Ontology; interoperability; medication management.