What pharmacies paid for atorvastatin, 2013 to 2026

In November 2013, retail pharmacies paid an average of 18.3 cents for a generic 20 mg atorvastatin tablet, according to the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost survey¹ that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services runs for Medicaid. In October 2026, the latest weekly NADAC files⁴ put the same tablet at 2.8 cents.

That is a fall of about 85 percent in 13 years. At the 2013 rate, a year of once-daily tablets cost a pharmacy $66.69 in ingredient cost. At the October 2026 rate it cost $10.31.

Atorvastatin is a useful baseline because its record contains no lasting spike. The drug went generic two years before the federal series begins, FDA has approved dozens of generic versions since, and the price has drifted down, mostly in a handful of sharp steps. GxRadar analyzed CMS NADAC files from November 2013 through October 2026 and set them against FDA approval records to show how that slide unfolded, and what the numbers leave out.

Thirteen years of one tablet's cost

Our table uses October of each year, plus the first month of the series. Each figure is GxRadar's monthly median of the weekly NADAC per-tablet rate for generic-classified 20 mg atorvastatin tablets, drawn from the yearly NADAC datasets on data.medicaid.gov⁴. The last column multiplies the rate by 365. The full monthly series is on our atorvastatin page.

The decline came in steps. The steepest single month was December 2022, when the figure fell 23 percent, from 5.1 cents to 4.0 cents in the 2022 files³. Other large one-month drops came in December 2017 (15 percent), October 2018 (17 percent) and July 2024 (17 percent).

Prices also rose at times. In June 2019 the monthly figure jumped 28 percent, from 6.8 cents to 8.7 cents, in the 2019 files², and it stayed above 7 cents until October 2020. A year-to-year comparison of October figures hides moves like that, which is one reason we publish the monthly series.

Some wobble is built into the survey. NADAC is calculated from invoices that a sample of chain and independent retail pharmacies submit, and CMS computes brand and generic rates separately, according to the agency's December 2024 methodology⁵. That document also says that, starting with the December 2024 updates, monthly generic rates are calculated as a three-month moving average to moderate volatility. Figures after that date are smoother by design; our account of the 2024 NADAC swings explains why CMS made the change.

When the generics arrived

The first generic atorvastatin was approved on November 30, 2011, in 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg strengths, according to FDA's Drugs@FDA record for that application (ANDA 076477), which GxRadar retrieved through openFDA⁷. It was the only approved abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for the drug for six months. On May 29, 2012, FDA approved four more ANDAs covering the 20 mg tablet on the same day. That six-month gap matches the length of the 180-day exclusivity period that federal law can give a first generic applicant.

Approvals kept coming long after the market matured. GxRadar counted ANDAs in FDA's Drugs@FDA data, downloaded through openFDA⁷, whose original approval included a single-ingredient atorvastatin calcium 20 mg tablet. There were 32. Of those, 23 still list the 20 mg tablet with a prescription marketing status, and FDA lists the rest as discontinued. Counting every strength, the same data show 33 approved atorvastatin calcium ANDAs, 24 with at least one product still marketed. The brand product sits on a separate new drug application.

An approval is permission to sell, and our data cannot show which approved products are on pharmacy shelves in a given month. The pattern still fits FDA's own research. In a December 2019 analysis⁸ of drugs that first went generic from 2015 to 2017, FDA economists found that with six or more generic makers, invoice-based prices ran more than 95 percent below the brand price before generic entry. Atorvastatin was past that point in our first month of data. In November 2013 the brand-name 20 mg tablet carried a NADAC of $6.54 in the same 2013 file¹, so the generic cost about 97 percent less.

Later entrants matter too, FDA argues. Its November 2025 estimate of savings from 2023 approvals⁹ found that the 773 ANDAs fully approved that year produced a net $18.6 billion in savings in their first 12 months, and said that "subsequent approvals in partially competitive markets also contributed billions in additional savings." FDA keeps its series of these studies on its generic competition and drug prices page¹⁰. Our approvals tracker counts ANDA approvals across all drugs by year.

How atorvastatin compares with other statins

GxRadar tracks four statin tablets. Three of them cost pharmacies less than they did five years ago. Simvastatin went the other way.

Rosuvastatin entered the series in July 2016, at generic launch, so its first figure is close to the brand price. How that number collapsed within weeks is the subject of our analysis of the first 24 months after generic entry. Simvastatin's rise since 2021, traced in our simvastatin price history, is one of the cases in our look at generics that got more expensive.

What the figure leaves out

NADAC measures what pharmacies pay their suppliers on the invoice. The CMS methodology says discounts and rebates that are not shown on the invoice at the line-item level are not factored in, and that invoices for purchases under the 340B discount program are excluded from survey submissions. Specialty and other closed-door pharmacies are left out of the survey.

NADAC also says nothing about the pharmacy's dispensing fee or what a patient is charged at the counter. That depends on the insurance plan, the deductible and the pharmacy's own cash price. Our levothyroxine analysis walks through that gap with a daily pill, and our NADAC explainer covers how the survey is built. For the general pattern of price declines after entry, see why generic prices fall as competitors enter.

FDA's Orange Book¹¹ lists which approved atorvastatin products are rated therapeutically equivalent to the brand, and the Drugs@FDA entries show each application's current status. CMS posts its monthly NADAC file on the first Monday on or after the 15th of the month, according to the NADAC page on Medicaid.gov⁶, which puts the next one on Monday, November 16, 2026.