Arca Life Sciences MCP server

A free, read-only MCP server for biomedical literature and public regulatory, clinical and safety records.

Endpoint

The server speaks MCP over streamable HTTP. There is no authentication, no API key and no sign-up. It is free to use.

https://app.arca.inc/api/public/mcp

Connect

Claude.ai and Claude Desktop. Open Settings, then Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste the endpoint URL.

Claude Code.

claude mcp add --transport http arca-life-sciences https://app.arca.inc/api/public/mcp

Cursor, VS Code and other clients. Add the endpoint URL as a remote (HTTP) MCP server. Clients that read an mcpServers config take this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arca-life-sciences": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://app.arca.inc/api/public/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Clients without remote server support. Run it through mcp-remote:

npx -y mcp-remote https://app.arca.inc/api/public/mcp

The server is listed in the official MCP Registry as inc.arca/life-sciences.

Tools

Tool	What it does
`search_papers`	Ranked PubMed literature search over about 41 million records. Arca's paper index is fused with PubMed Best Match and enriched with OpenAlex citation counts and open-access status. Filter by publication year, article type and open access. Returns title, authors, journal, year, DOI, PMID, abstract, citation count and open-access status.
`search_medical`	Hybrid keyword and semantic search over regulatory, clinical and safety records (listed below). Narrow it with sourceTypes, or with exact metadata filters such as application numbers, NCT IDs, K numbers and recall class.
`fetch_source_record`	Returns the full indexed text of one record, by recordId.
`list_datasets`	Describes the corpus and its source lanes.

Every result cites the URL of its source record. Results from search_papers and search_medical also carry a continueInArca link that opens the same question in Arca's research chat.

Data coverage

search_papers covers PubMed. search_medical covers these public sources:

FDA drug labels and DailyMed
Drugs@FDA approvals and complete response letters
FDA warning letters, inspections and Form 483s
Orange Book, Purple Book and NDC
Drug shortages and postmarket requirements
Device 510(k), PMA and registrations
MAUDE adverse events and GUDID
Import refusals
ClinicalTrials.gov studies
VAERS reports and CDC data
EU MDR/IVDR expert panel opinions
BfArM and PMDA device vigilance

Example prompts

Which telehealth companies got FDA warning letters about compounded semaglutide?
Find Phase 3 trials of tirzepatide in heart failure.
Most-cited open-access papers on GLP-1 receptor agonists and cardiovascular outcomes since 2020.

Limits

Read-only. The server only looks up records that are already published. It cannot file, submit or report anything to FDA, VAERS or any other agency.
Public data only. It searches published public sources, not your organization's documents.
Rate limit. 120 requests per minute per IP address. Requests over the limit get HTTP 429.
Not medical advice. Results are research material. Check the cited source before you rely on it.

Privacy

Arca processes the queries you send to answer them. See our Privacy Policy for how we handle data.

Support

Email contact@arca.inc or see the support page.