An empty shelf at the pharmacy is usually a temporary, local gap with more product on the way, though occasionally a local gap is an early sign of a shortage still to come. You can tell which kind yours is before you call a single other pharmacy.
How to tell a national shortage from one pharmacy's gap
A national shortage is one the FDA has determined and lists in its database as Currently in Shortage, and a gap at a single pharmacy is not something the database records. Under federal law, a drug is in shortage when demand or projected demand for it within the United States exceeds the supply.
A gap at your counter is usually the store's own stock: local supply issues are usually temporary and often involve distribution issues, which resolve when the pharmacy is able to reorder from its distributor.
For a medicine you cannot find at your local pharmacy, check other stores or pharmacies, or ask your health care provider or a pharmacist whether there is an alternative to it. The pharmacist in front of you can tell you now whether an alternative exists, and whether it suits you is for your prescriber to decide.
How to look up your medicine and read its status on the list
Look up your medicine in the FDA Drug Shortages Database by its generic name or active ingredient, the name every entry is listed under. If the carton or the pharmacy label shows you only a brand name, ask the pharmacist for the active ingredient before you leave, and search for that.
For a drug in shortage, the list gives the reason for the shortage as the FDA determined it, and the estimated duration of the shortage. The list is updated daily with new and resolved shortages and with what suppliers report about their manufacturing capacity, so look on the day you need the answer.
What each status beside a name means:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Currently in Shortage | The FDA has determined the drug is in shortage in the United States. |
| Resolved | The FDA has determined that supply is no longer exceeded by demand or projected demand. |
| Discontinuation | A manufacturer has reported to the FDA that it is permanently stopping making the drug. |
| Available, shown for one product in a listing | The manufacturer's most current information, which is not an FDA determination that the shortage is over. Manufacturers provide these product details, and they can change daily. |
Resolved can sit beside an empty shelf. A drug is marked Resolved when the market is considered covered, meaning supply is available from at least one manufacturer to cover total market demand, though some manufacturers may not have every strength or package size available. A Resolved listing and a pharmacy with none of the product your prescription names can both be accurate on the same afternoon.
Resolved shortages stay on the list for 6 months, and discontinued ones for 1 year, so finding a name there does not mean its shortage is still going on. Read the status beside the name first.
Why nobody can give you a date
The nearest thing to a published date is the estimated duration in a listed shortage's entry. A store that is only waiting to reorder has no listing, and no published date at all.
Manufacturing quality issues are the most common reason for drug shortages. Shortages have also come from production delays at the manufacturer and from delays in getting raw materials and components from suppliers, and others may be caused by sudden or unexpected increases in demand or by discontinuations.
The FDA can't require a firm to keep making a drug it wants to discontinue, or require firms to increase production, so nobody can set a date by which a drug has to be back.
What to do this afternoon
If the medicine is one you cannot safely go without, call the prescriber's office today, tell them the pharmacy has none, and say how much you have left. Making what is left last longer is the prescriber's decision, so ask about it on the same call.
Then search the database by the medicine's generic name or active ingredient. If it is not listed, or is listed as Resolved, call other pharmacies. If it is listed as Currently in Shortage or as a Discontinuation, ask your prescriber or a pharmacist about other treatment options, and keep calling other pharmacies as well.
If it is not listed, report it to the FDA through its public portal for new shortages too, even if the gap may only be local: when a drug is at risk of going into shortage, that advance notice sometimes helps the FDA take early action to prevent the shortage or shorten it.
Before another pharmacy fills it, check with your health plan which pharmacies you can use, since a plan may not pay for a prescription filled outside its preferred pharmacies. Tell all your providers about every medicine, supplement and herb you take, and keep a list of them with you, so you can show it to the pharmacist who fills this one. Filling all your prescriptions at one pharmacy gives that pharmacy a record of them, which helps prevent medicine interactions.
Mail order will not close the gap today, because it may take a week or more for the medicine to reach you. It is best used for long-term medicines you take for chronic problems. Short-term medicines, and ones that need to be stored at certain temperatures, are best bought at a local pharmacy. If you look online, choose the pharmacy with care, because there are scam sites that sell fake medicines for cheap (see Is a cheap injection from a private seller safe to buy?).
You will not find alternatives in the FDA's database, because whether an alternative may be appropriate depends on each patient. If the prescriber or the pharmacist offers one, tell them about any allergies or side effects you have had to medicines in the past, ask what the new medicine is for and what side effects to watch for, and ask whether it will interact with any foods, drinks or other medicines. Once you start it, contact the prescriber's office about any unusual or bothersome side effects.
A generic version or a different brand of the same medicine may look different from what you have been taking, so always check that it is the same medicine before you take it, with the pharmacy that filled it or your prescriber (see Your refill changed color. Check it is still your medicine). If a new medicine is followed by a severe allergic reaction with trouble breathing, swelling or hives, go to an emergency department or call 911.
If a physician NicoCares connected you with prescribed the medicine, the choice of an alternative is that physician's clinical decision, and you raise it by messaging your care team in Spruce. There is no stated time for an answer in Spruce, so if you cannot safely go without the medicine, also call a doctor you already see, such as your primary care provider's office, today: say what has run out and how much you have left, and ask whether they can help until your care team answers.
