IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Skill

Query the expert-curated IUPHAR database for ligands (drugs/compounds), targets (receptors/enzymes/channels), and ligand–target interactions.

• Source: https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/
• API docs: https://www.guidetopharmacology.org/webServices.jsp
• Auth: None (open access)

Entity auto-detection

query_entity(name) tries ligand search first; if no hits, falls back to target search.

Input example	Detected as	What you get
morphine	ligand	ligandId, type, approved status, INN …
5-HT1A receptor	target	targetId, type, gene IDs, family IDs …
GABA receptor	target	target info + top 10 ligand–target interactions

API

Function	Input	Returns
query_entity(name)	single entity string	dict with entity, type, results, interactions
query_entities(names)	list of entity strings	{name: result_dict}
summarize(result)	output of query_entity	concise human-readable text
search_ligand(name)	drug/compound name	list of ligand dicts
get_ligand(id)	numeric ligand ID	full ligand detail dict
search_target(name)	target name	list of target dicts
get_target(id)	numeric target ID	full target detail dict
get_interactions(target_id)	numeric target ID	list of interaction dicts

Usage

from importlib.util import spec_from_file_location, module_from_spec
spec = spec_from_file_location("iuphar", "<path>/13_IUPHAR_BPS_Guide_to_Pharmacology.py")
iuphar = module_from_spec(spec); spec.loader.exec_module(iuphar)

# Single query
r = iuphar.query_entity("morphine")
print(iuphar.summarize(r))

# Batch query
results = iuphar.query_entities(["aspirin", "5-HT1A receptor"])
for name, res in results.items():
    print(iuphar.summarize(res))

See if __name__ == "__main__" block in the .py file for more runnable examples (single ligand, single target, batch, direct ID lookup).

Key fields returned

Ligand: ligandId, name, type, approved, inn, species

Target: targetId, name, abbreviation, type, familyIds, geneIds

Interaction: ligandId, targetId, action, affinityRange, affinityType, endogenous, species