Open Targets Platform API

Base URL

https://api.platform.opentargets.org/api/v4/graphql

Authentication

No API key or account. Open Targets is publicly funded and the platform data is openly licensed.

Rate limit

No hard published limit. Very large queries should use the downloadable data dumps or the BigQuery instance instead.

Pricing

Free. Data released under CC0 where the underlying sources permit.

CORS

Enabled — callable directly from browser JavaScript

Official docs

Read the docs

Every request below was executed against the live API on 2026-08-21, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

curl -X POST 'https://api.platform.opentargets.org/api/v4/graphql' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"{target(ensemblId:\"ENSG00000157764\"){id approvedSymbol}}"}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.platform.opentargets.org/api/v4/graphql", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({"query":"{target(ensemblId:\"ENSG00000157764\"){id approvedSymbol}}"}),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

import requests

headers = {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
}

payload = {"query":"{target(ensemblId:\"ENSG00000157764\"){id approvedSymbol}}"}

res = requests.post("https://api.platform.opentargets.org/api/v4/graphql", headers=headers, json=payload, timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

{
  "data": {
    "target": {
      "id": "ENSG00000157764",
      "approvedSymbol": "BRAF"
    }
  }
}

dataobject

The GraphQL result, shaped exactly like the query you sent. Nothing you did not ask for is returned.

data.target.idstring

Ensembl gene identifier for the target.

data.target.approvedSymbolstring

HGNC approved gene symbol, such as BRAF.

associatedDiseasesobject

Scored disease associations with an overall score and a per-datatype breakdown, available when requested.

knownDrugsobject

Drugs known to modulate the target, with clinical phase and mechanism of action.

tractabilityarray

Assessments of how amenable the target is to small molecule or antibody modulation.

errorsarray

GraphQL returns HTTP 200 even for query errors — this array carries them, so always check it.

• Rank candidate drug targets for a disease by weight of evidence
• Check what is already known about a gene before committing to a programme
• Find diseases genetically associated with a target of interest
• Assess whether a target is tractable to small molecules or antibodies