🔔 EU (EMA) Medicine Shortages Catalogue

One structured medicine_shortage_record per entry in the European Medicines Agency's public catalogue of medicine shortages assessed by the Agency — keyless, logged-out, robots-honored.

Difference: One record per EMA-assessed shortage — medicine, INN/common name, human/veterinary category, shortage status, pharmaceutical forms and strengths affected, availability of alternatives, therapeutic area, shortage start / expected-resolution / publication dates, and the official shortage URL. Sourced from EMA's own machine-readable JSON feed (refreshed twice daily), not scraped from rendered pages.

Output is one medicine_shortage row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one medicine shortage record (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.02 per medicine shortage record). Source: www.ema.europa.eu.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run 98HLe0uXulhlkdhcU on build 0.1.5 (2026-09-18), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

medicine_affected	inn_or_common_name	supply_shortage_status	therapeutic_area	pharmaceutical_forms_affected	first_published_date
Dynastat	parecoxib	Shortage resolved		Powder and solvent for solution for injection;Powder for solution for	14/04/2025
NexoBrid	concentrate of proteolytic enzymes enriched in bromelain	Shortage resolved	Debridement		06/05/2026
Eskazole / Zentel	albendazole	Shortage ongoing	Parasitic Diseases;Protozoan Infections;Helminthiasis	Tablet;Suspension	09/09/2026
Natpar	parathyroid hormone	Medicine discontinued	Hypoparathyroidism	Powder and solvent for solution for injection	02/05/2022
Visudyne	verteporfin	Shortage ongoing	Myopia, Degenerative;Macular Degeneration	Powder for solution for infusion	08/11/2021
Saxenda	liraglutide	Shortage resolved	Obesity;Overweight	Solution for injection in pre-filled pen	24/08/2023
Brevibloc	esmolol	Shortage ongoing	Tachycardia, Supraventricular;Hypertension	Solution for intravenous injection	02/09/2026
Paliperidone palmitate		Shortage ongoing	Schizophrenia		27/08/2026

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string) — e.g. medicine_shortage
• medicine_affected (string/null) — e.g. Dynastat
• inn_or_common_name (string/null) — e.g. parecoxib
• category (string/null) — e.g. Human
• supply_shortage_status (string/null) — e.g. Shortage resolved
• therapeutic_area (string/null) — e.g. Debridement
• pharmaceutical_forms_affected (string/null) — e.g. Powder and solvent for solution for injection;Powder for solution for injection
• strengths_affected (string/null) — e.g. 40 mg
• availability_of_alternatives (string/null) — e.g. No
• start_of_shortage_date (string/null) — e.g. 01/05/2020
• expected_resolution_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• expected_resolution (string/null) — e.g. 2028
• first_published_date (string/null) — e.g. 14/04/2025
• last_updated_date (string/null) — e.g. 18/09/2026
• shortage_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/shortages/dynastat
• source (string/null) — e.g. eu-medicines-shortage
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/shortages-output-json-report_en.js
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-18T21:39:31Z
• license (string/integer/null) — e.g. European Medicines Agency — reuse permitted with acknowledgement of source.
• attribution (string/integer/null) — e.g. Source: European Medicines Agency (EMA) — public medicine shortages catalogue (s
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

• record_type (string) — e.g. medicine_shortage
• medicine_affected (string/null) — e.g. Dynastat
• inn_or_common_name (string/null) — e.g. parecoxib
• category (string/null) — e.g. Human
• supply_shortage_status (string/null) — e.g. Shortage resolved
• therapeutic_area (string/null) — e.g. Debridement
• pharmaceutical_forms_affected (string/null) — e.g. Powder and solvent for solution for injection;Powder for solution for injection
• strengths_affected (string/null) — e.g. 40 mg
• availability_of_alternatives (string/null) — e.g. No
• start_of_shortage_date (string/null) — e.g. 01/05/2020
• expected_resolution_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• expected_resolution (string/null) — e.g. 2028
• first_published_date (string/null) — e.g. 14/04/2025
• last_updated_date (string/null) — e.g. 18/09/2026
• shortage_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/shortages/dynastat
• source (string/null) — e.g. eu-medicines-shortage
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/shortages-output-json-report_en.js
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-18T21:10:06Z
• license (string/integer/null) — e.g. European Medicines Agency — reuse permitted with acknowledgement of source.
• attribution (string/integer/null) — e.g. Source: European Medicines Agency (EMA) — public medicine shortages catalogue (s
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

What you get

One medicine_shortage_record per catalogue entry, deduplicated on the official shortage URL. A run_receipt row carries the full-catalogue count, release date, scope, license, attribution, and totals.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "maxRecords": 50
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 50 × $0.02 medicine_shortage_record = $1.02 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "maxRecords": 5
}

Caps the run at 5 rows — about $0.12 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5 × $0.02).

3. A full-size run

{
  "maxRecords": 2000
}

Up to 2000 rows (the schema default for maxRecords) — about $40.02 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 2000 × $0.02) if the source has that many.

4. A filtered run

{
  "maxRecords": 50,
  "fieldMatch": {
    "inn_or_common_name": "parecoxib"
  }
}

Keeps only rows whose inn_or_common_name contains parecoxib (a value from the sample run above), matched case-insensitively after the source is read and before the maxRecords cap, so the cap counts matches and only delivered matches are billed. searchText does the same across every column. Zero matches end the run as EMPTY_SELECTION with no row charged — if the source has moved on since that sample run, pick a value you see in your own first run. The source is still read in full — this narrows what you receive and pay for, not what the source serves.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run 98HLe0uXulhlkdhcU, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "medicine_shortage",
  "medicine_affected": "Dynastat",
  "inn_or_common_name": "parecoxib",
  "category": "Human",
  "supply_shortage_status": "Shortage resolved",
  "therapeutic_area": null,
  "pharmaceutical_forms_affected": "Powder and solvent for solution for injection;Powder for solution for injection",
  "strengths_affected": "40 mg",
  "availability_of_alternatives": null,
  "start_of_shortage_date": null,
  "expected_resolution_date": null,
  "expected_resolution": null,
  "first_published_date": "14/04/2025",
  "last_updated_date": "18/09/2026",
  "shortage_url": "https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/shortages/dynastat",
  "source": "eu-medicines-shortage",
  "release_date": null,
  "source_url": "https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/shortages-output-json-report_en.json",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-18T21:39:31Z",
  "license": "European Medicines Agency — reuse permitted with acknowledgement of source.",
  "attribution": "Source: European Medicines Agency (EMA) — public medicine shortages catalogue (shortages JSON report)."
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads www.ema.europa.eu — endpoints: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/shortages-output-json-report_en.json. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: CRAWL_DELAY=0.0.

Charging. Each medicine shortage record is charged at the moment it is pushed (medicine_shortage_record); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

🔧 How it works

How it behaves

The official EMA shortages JSON report is fetched once from a robots-permitted path (Allow: /*/documents/report/*.json$), a header canary verifies the schema, and each entry is emitted through a STRICT field whitelist — only medicine/organisation-level catalogue fields can ever be emitted; no personal-contact field exists in this feed or could pass the whitelist. Delivery is bounded to maxRecords.

Source

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/shortages-output-json-report_en.json

Attribution

Source: European Medicines Agency (EMA) — public medicine shortages catalogue. Reuse permitted with acknowledgement of source.

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Medicine shortage record (medicine_shortage_record)	$0.02	$0.018	$0.016	$0.0134

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 8 medicine shortage records: $0.02 start + 8 × $0.02 = $0.18
• 25 medicine shortage records: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.02 = $0.52
• 2000 medicine shortage records: $0.02 start + 2000 × $0.02 = $40.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 4096 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50. maxRecords is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by www.ema.europa.eu. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (www.ema.europa.eu) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to maxRecords (default 2000). Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other NexGen Watch actors actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers www.ema.europa.eu. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (CRAWL_DELAY=0.0) and honours its robots rules; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (maxRecords) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

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• 🏢 About NexGenData — NexGen Watch is NexGenData's fleet of more than 300 public data actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

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