Top 10 Active US Drug Shortages by Report Volume
PlainMeds ranks active US drug shortages currently flagged by the FDA Drug Shortage Database, ordered by the number of distinct presentation entries reporting the shortage status.
Research period:
The most-reported active US drug shortage in this dataset is Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate Capsule, with 90 active shortage entries recorded in the FDA Drug Shortage Database.
PlainMeds ranks active US drug shortages flagged by the FDA Drug Shortage Database, ordered by how many distinct presentation entries report a shortage. Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate Capsule leads with 90. A higher entry count means more individual products of a drug (strengths, package sizes, manufacturers) are affected, which can signal a broader supply disruption. Shortage status changes as the FDA updates its database.
Research question
Among the currently-active drug shortages reported in the FDA Drug Shortage Database, which generic medications carry the highest number of distinct shortage entries, and what does sustained multi-presentation reporting indicate about the durability of the supply disruption?
Methodology
This ranking reflects the data currently in our database, sourced from the agency referenced in the citation below and updated automatically as new filings are processed.
Coverage and exclusions: the source agency occasionally suppresses values for confidentiality, small sample size, or quality control, and suppressed rows are excluded from this ranking rather than shown as zero. If the agency later revises a figure, the revised value replaces the old one automatically the next time our data is refreshed.
Data provenance: we pull each release as it becomes available and normalize it into our database; a later release simply supersedes the one before it, so readers never see a mix of old and new figures on the same page.
Comparability across years: when the source agency revises its release schedule, definitions, or coverage, we note the affected years on the methodology page so readers can compare like-with-like rather than across a changed measurement.
Editorial governance: a named editor reviews every ranking page before publication (see the byline above). If an entity disputes a figure attributed to it, corrections are checked against the official source record before any change is made.
Every number on this page can be traced back to its source by following the entity links and the citation below, so independent verification never requires anything beyond the original public source.
See the methodology page for the complete ETL pipeline, source vintage, and column lineage.
Top 10 Active US Drug Shortages by Report Volume
Live data: reflects the current dataset
The ranked top 10
Every row below reflects the current 10-record dataset. Reload the page after new data is processed to see the latest values.
| # | Generic name | Active shortage entries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate Capsule | 90 |
| 2 | Amphetamine Aspartate Monohydrate, Amphetamine Sulfate, Dextroamphetamine Saccharate, Dextroamphetamine Sulfate Tablet | 73 |
| 3 | Lidocaine Hydrochloride Injection | 68 |
| 4 | Dexmedetomidine Hydrochloride Injection | 52 |
| 5 | Ropivacaine Hydrochloride Injection | 46 |
| 6 | Bupivacaine Hydrochloride Injection | 42 |
| 7 | Clonazepam Tablet | 40 |
| 8 | Methylphenidate Hydrochloride Tablet, Extended Release | 39 |
| 9 | Dextrose Monohydrate 5% Injection | 36 |
| 10 | Furosemide Injection | 33 |
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Drug Shortage Database. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Drug Shortage Database. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked record in this dataset is Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate Capsule, with a value of 90 on the Active shortage entries column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes directly from the current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (90) and the 10th-ranked record (33) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking originate from U.S. Food and Drug Administration, specifically the FDA Drug Shortage Database. PlainMeds ingests the source vintage published by the agency and keeps this page current, there is no static export carrying stale numbers, and a newly published dataset is reflected here within hours. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and the steps applied to prepare the data.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
The FDA Drug Shortage Database tracks supply disruptions self-reported by manufacturers under FDA reporting requirements, so the count reflects manufacturer reporting compliance rather than direct measurement of pharmacy shelf availability. Entry counts represent distinct presentations (strength, dosage form, package size, NDC) reported in shortage, a generic drug with many strengths and presentations naturally accumulates more entries than a single-presentation drug at equivalent severity. The Current status includes drugs in active shortage at the most recent FDA database refresh; the resolution timing for each entry is published independently by the manufacturer. A single manufacturer reporting a shortage on multiple NDCs of the same generic compound counts as multiple entries; a multi-manufacturer shortage where each manufacturer reports separately further multiplies the entry count. The page does not adjudicate clinical severity, a high entry count signals broad reporting reach but does not in itself indicate clinical impact, which depends on the availability of therapeutic alternatives and the criticality of the indication.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 generic drugs flagged for discontinuation in the FDA Drug Shortage Database
Sources
- FDA, Drug Shortage Database - https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/
- openFDA, Drug Endpoint - https://open.fda.gov/apis/drug/