Nullary

Nullary vs. Open Pharma data sources

TLDR

  • “Open pharma” refers to the ecosystem of open public databases (ChEMBL, PubChem, DepMap, FLAb, ClinicalTrials.gov, and others) maintained by academic institutions and governments
  • Nullary aggregates 25+ of these sources into a unified MCP-queryable layer
  • Open Pharma sources are individually free but require separate integrations, schema mappings, and update tracking per source
  • Nullary handles the integration, normalization, and freshness so you can query across all of them in seconds

What each provides

Open Pharma databases (individually):

  • ChEMBL — small-molecule bioactivity
  • PubChem BioAssay — compound screening outcomes
  • DepMap — CRISPR essentiality screens
  • FLAb — antibody developability
  • SAbDab — antibody structures
  • ClinicalTrials.gov — clinical trial registrations
  • AACT — relational version of ClinicalTrials.gov
  • EudraCT — European clinical trials
  • Drugs@FDA — drug approval status
  • PROTAC-DB — PROTAC activity
  • THPdb — therapeutic peptides
  • AOBase — antisense oligonucleotides
  • (and others)

Nullary integrates all of the above (plus more) with:

  • Unified schema across modalities
  • Full source provenance per record
  • MCP-native query interface
  • REST API
  • Alerts and webhooks (Standard tier)
  • Analytics suite (Premium tier)
  • Agent-curated deep extractions (Enterprise tier)

When to use the underlying open sources directly

  • You need raw bulk data without integration overhead is acceptable
  • You have an existing pipeline that already integrates 5+ of these sources
  • You need source-specific features that Nullary doesn't surface (e.g., DepMap's full per-cell-line gene effect matrices)
  • You're an academic researcher with no budget for paid tools

When to use Nullary

  • You're building agent workflows that need negative-results data across modalities
  • You don't want to maintain integrations to 25+ databases yourself
  • You want cross-modality queries that no individual database supports
  • You want alerts and analytics layered on top of the raw data
  • Your time is more valuable than the $49-499/mo subscription

Pricing comparison

All the underlying open-pharma databases are free for individual use. Nullary's free tier is also free and provides MCP access across all modalities. Paid tiers ($49 yearly / $79 monthly Standard; $299 yearly / $499 monthly Premium) add capabilities that the underlying databases don't provide individually.

Bottom line

Nullary is the open-pharma ecosystem unified into one queryable layer. Use Nullary when integration time, cross-modality queries, alerts, or analytics matter more than the cost of a subscription. Use the underlying databases directly when you need their specific features or you have an existing integration.