What is the FDA Drug Shortage Database?

The FDA Drug Shortage Database is the official federal list of drugs currently in shortage, maintained by the FDA Drug Shortage Staff under the authority of 21 USC 356c. Manufacturers are legally required to report supply disruptions; the FDA publishes the consolidated list with reason codes, expected recovery dates, and per-manufacturer status.

The database is updated daily. RxFinder pulls the FDA shortage feed at 06:00 UTC each day and joins it to the 3,186-drug Part D-relevant universe, filtering for benefits-sponsor relevance.

Status categories:
- Active: drug is currently in supply constraint, expected to resolve
- Discontinued: manufacturer has permanently stopped production
- Resolved: previous shortage has been remedied and supply is restored

For plan sponsors, the shortage database is the leading indicator for member-disruption events. Plans typically respond to active shortages with prior-auth carveouts, alternative-product coverage, or quantity-limit suspension on affected NDCs.