Dear all,
The Production release of the August 2026 SNOMED CT® International Edition is now available to all users, from the MLDS distribution site.
All files distributed for the August 2026 International Edition are available from the “August 2026 v1.0” version in the “SNOMED CT International Edition” project, which can be found on the “SNOMED Releases” page in MLDS, accessed here:
The SNOMED CT International Edition contains SNOMED CT files in Release Format 2 (RF2) only, distributed in a zipped file archive:
- SnomedCT_InternationalRF2_PRODUCTION_20260801T120000Z.zip
The Release Notes (“doc_SnomedCTReleaseNotes_Current-en-US_INT_20260801.pdf”) can be downloaded as distinct files from the same MLDS release version, or accessed online:
Those Members using MLDS as their distribution site will find that their affiliates have access to the new release automatically.
All vendors and affiliates should please contact their National Release Centre (NRC) for information on when the latest release package will be available for download from the NRC website. Contact details for all NRC’s can be found here - http://www.snomed.org/members/
Please refresh your memory of all major changes to this upcoming release, as published on the Early Visibility page here: https://conf.spaces.snomed.org/wiki/spaces/RMT/pages/343801863/2026+Early+Visibility+Release+Notifications, and in the Release Notes (where changes to the final Production package made throughout the Release cycle are logged).
NOTICE:
As planned, the configuration governing the maximum length of Fully Specified Names (FSN) and Synonyms was increased to a maximum of 4096 characters (from the original 255) as part of the July 2026 International Edition release. This means that Descriptions can now be increased beyond the original 255 character limit without prior notice.
However, given that this is the first release in which this will be actioned, we are providing visibility that the following terms have been expanded beyond 255 characters, as part of the August 2026 release:
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1335998005 |Product containing precisely calcium chloride 200 microgram, glucose 50 milligram and potassium chloride 300 microgram and sodium chloride 6 milligram and sodium lactate 3.1 milligram/1 milliliter conventional release solution for infusion (clinical drug)|
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1162634005 |Pediatric vaccine product containing only acellular Bordetella pertussis, Clostridium tetani and Corynebacterium diphtheriae toxoids, Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugated, Hepatitis B virus and inactivated Human poliovirus antigens (medicinal product)|
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2081000221102 |Pediatric vaccine product containing only acellular Bordetella pertussis, Clostridium tetani and Corynebacterium diphtheriae toxoids, Haemophilus influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide conjugated, Hepatitis B virus surface antigens (medicinal product)|
They have only been increased marginally above the previous 255 character limit (258, 264 and 263 characters respectively), and future changes are also predicted to only minimally exceed 255 characters. This will only be done where clinically necessary in order to precisely describe the term.
NOTE: Future description changes or additions will align with the updated specification of description length up to 4096 characters without early visibility of these changes.
If you have any questions about the August 2026 International Edition release, or have difficulties downloading the files from the distribution site, please contact SNOMED International at release@snomed.org with “August 2026 International Edition release question” in the subject line.
Kind regards,
Andrew Atkinson | Release Manager