FDA Drug Shortages Scraper — openFDA Supply Disruption Tracker

Extract structured drug shortage records from the openFDA Drug Shortages API, the official U.S. Food & Drug Administration feed used by hospitals, pharmacies, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), and pharmaceutical wholesalers to monitor U.S. drug supply continuity. The actor pulls the entire shortage catalog and enriches each record with the openFDA metadata block (NDC codes, application numbers, substance names, route, brand names) so the output is immediately usable in procurement, clinical decision support, and supply-chain analytics pipelines.

The FDA Drug Shortage list is the authoritative source for CGMP supply disruption tracking in the United States. Currently in Shortage status, Resolved status, To Be Discontinued, and full Discontinuation notices are all surfaced through a single endpoint. Pharmacy benefit managers, hospital pharmacists, 340B program administrators, and pharmaceutical analysts rely on this data to anticipate stock-outs and plan therapeutic substitutions.

Key Features

• Complete openFDA Drug Shortages coverage — pulls the full ~1,700 record catalog with API pagination
• Status filtering — Currently in Shortage / Resolved / Discontinuation / To Be Discontinued
• Generic name filter — for monitoring a specific molecule across all manufacturers
• Date-range filtering on the initial posting date (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Enriched fields — joins openFDA's product metadata (application number, NDC, route, brand)
• No authentication required — the openFDA endpoint is public
• Clean JSON output — ready for RAG pipelines, BI dashboards, or PostgreSQL ingestion

Output Data Fields

Field	Type	Description
genericName	string	Generic / nonproprietary drug name
proprietaryName	string	Brand or proprietary name
status	string	"Currently in Shortage", "Resolved", etc.
availability	string	Free-text availability/supply notes
dosageForm	string	e.g., "Tablet", "Solution"
strength	string	Concentration / strength
packageNdc	string	National Drug Code (package level)
productNdc	string	National Drug Code (product level)
applicationNumber	string	FDA ANDA/NDA application number
company	string	Manufacturer
shortageReason	string	FDA-reported reason (e.g., "Demand increase for the drug")
therapeuticCategory	string	Therapeutic class
route	string	Route of administration
substanceName	string	Active ingredient
contactInfo	string	Manufacturer contact for the shortage
relatedInfo	string	Additional notes
updateType	string	Add / Update / Reverified
initialPostingDate	string	First date posted (MM/DD/YYYY from openFDA)
updateDate	string	Last update timestamp
brandName	string	openFDA brand name (when available)

How to Scrape FDA Drug Shortages

1. Open the FDA Drug Shortages Scraper Actor page on Apify Store.
2. Click Start to open the input form.
3. (Optional) Set Status Filter to Currently in Shortage to only retrieve open shortages.
4. (Optional) Set Generic Name Filter to focus on a single molecule, e.g., Amoxicillin.
5. (Optional) Use Initially Posted After / Before to narrow the window (YYYY-MM-DD).
6. Set Max Results to cap the output. Leave at 0 for everything.
7. Click Start.
8. Download as JSON / CSV / Excel from the Dataset tab, or hit the API endpoint for automation.

Input Example

{
    "statusFilter": "Currently in Shortage",
    "maxResults": 200
}

Output Example

{
    "genericName": "Clonazepam Tablet",
    "proprietaryName": "Clonazepam",
    "status": "Resolved",
    "availability": "Available",
    "dosageForm": "Tablet",
    "company": "Advagen Pharma Ltd.",
    "shortageReason": "Demand increase for the drug",
    "applicationNumber": "ANDA075468",
    "packageNdc": "72888-154-05",
    "initialPostingDate": "03/10/2023"
}

Pricing

This Actor calls a free public API. Compute cost is minimal — a complete catalog pull finishes well under a minute.

• Per-result pricing: $0.003/result
• Typical run: complete catalog (~1,700 records) for a few cents

Other Actors

• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Scraper
• openFDA Drug Adverse Events Scraper
• ClinicalTrials.gov Scraper
• CMS Hospital General Information Scraper

FAQ

Does this Actor require an FDA / openFDA API key? No. The openFDA Drug Shortages endpoint is public and requires no authentication.

How fresh is the data? openFDA pushes updates daily. The updateDate field reflects when the FDA last touched the record.

Can I get only shortages that are currently active? Yes — set statusFilter to Currently in Shortage.

Legal

This Actor extracts publicly available data from the openFDA API operated by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. No personal data is collected. Users are responsible for complying with the openFDA Terms of Service (https://open.fda.gov/terms/) when redistributing data.