What pharmacies paid for losartan, 2013 to 2026

In January 2019, retail pharmacies paid an average of 99 cents for 30 generic losartan 50 mg tablets (3.29 cents a tablet), according to the federal government's NADAC survey files¹. By September 2020 the same 30 tablets cost $3.70 (12.33 cents a tablet), the highest monthly figure since the series began in 2013. The price then took five years to come back down. It did not return to its January 2019 level until October 2025.

These figures are what pharmacies pay to acquire the tablets, not what anyone pays at the counter. Thirty tablets is the typical fill for this product in Medicaid's 2025 State Drug Utilization Data², which counted 2.2 million Medicaid prescriptions for it that year.

The climb began as a wave of recalls swept through losartan and two related blood pressure drugs. Between late 2018 and 2020, makers pulled lots found to contain nitrosamine impurities, a class of chemicals FDA calls probable or potential human carcinogens. GxRadar set CMS NADAC files from November 2013 through October 2026 against FDA's recall records to see whether the price series moved around those recalls. It did, and the move outlasted the recalls by years.

What the recalls were

Losartan belongs to the angiotensin II receptor blockers, or ARBs, according to FDA's ARB recall page³. "Beginning in Summer 2018, FDA learned and reported that some generic versions of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) medicines contain nitrosamine impurities that don't meet the agency's safety standards," the page says. Valsartan came first, in July 2018. Losartan followed. FDA's running log of ARB recall updates⁴ records the first losartan-containing recall on Nov. 9, 2018, a single lot of a losartan and hydrochlorothiazide combination tablet that contained N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA).

On March 1, 2019, FDA reported a third impurity, N-nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA), in certain lots of losartan. Weeks later the agency made a supply decision. Its March 20, 2019 update said that "to ensure patient access to losartan, FDA will not object to certain manufacturers temporarily distributing losartan containing" NMBA above the interim limit of 0.96 parts per million and below 9.82 ppm. The agency said it expected "many companies will be able to manufacture losartan without nitrosamine impurities and replenish the U.S. supply in approximately six months." FDA kept a searchable list of recalled ARB lots⁵, and its broader nitrosamine information page⁶ tracks the issue across other drugs.

A second, smaller wave came in 2022, for a different contaminant. The openFDA enforcement records⁷ list 30 losartan-containing recall records that year citing azido impurity levels "above acceptable limits." All 117 losartan-containing recall records in the database, whatever the reason, are Class II.

Counts include combination tablets that pair losartan with hydrochlorothiazide. Our recall tracker uses the same openFDA data, and our history of nitrosamine impurities explains how the contamination was traced.

What the price series shows

Each figure below is GxRadar's monthly median of the weekly NADAC per-tablet rate for generic-classified rows listed as losartan potassium 50 mg tablet. The fill column multiplies that rate by 30. Fill sizes reflect how prescriptions are commonly dispensed and are not a guide to dosing.

Three things stand out. The rise was slow at first; the rate gained about 19 percent between January and March 2019, while the recall count was climbing. It then accelerated through the second half of 2019 and kept rising into 2020, according to the 2020 NADAC files⁸, after most of the recall records had already been reported. And the peak, in September 2020, was 3.75 times the January 2019 rate.

The 2022 azido recalls left a smaller mark. The rate rose from 6.87 cents in February 2022 to 8.27 cents in March and was back under 7 cents by May. NADAC records what pharmacies paid. It does not record why, and no single recall explains a price that stayed high for years. Our account of the valsartan recall and its prices shows a sharper version of the same pattern. There, the rate for a 160 mg tablet went from 9.5 cents in July 2018 to 37 cents by January 2019, according to the NADAC files¹.

The long way back down

From the 2020 peak the rate fell in fits, to 9.26 cents in January 2021, according to the 2021 files⁹, 6.15 cents by October 2022 and 4.32 cents by October 2024. CMS's December 2024 methodology¹⁰ then moved generic rates to a three-month moving average, which it called "a temporary, short-term measure to address rate volatility occurring as a result of fluctuations in survey participation." Losartan reached its series low of 3.06 cents in November 2025, according to the 2025 files¹¹, and has sat between 3.1 and 3.4 cents since. Over five years, from October 2021 to October 2026, the 30-tablet cost fell 54 percent, from $2.15 to 99 cents. The full monthly series is on our losartan page.

Supply did not collapse. FDA approved the original losartan tablets on April 14, 1995, according to Drugs@FDA records¹². GxRadar counted 25 single-ingredient losartan ANDAs, 13 of them approved in 2010, including 12 on Oct. 6 of that year. Sixteen still list the 50 mg tablet as a marketed prescription product. CMS's Part D Spending by Drug data¹³ list 21 manufacturers of generic losartan in 2024, when Medicare paid for 36.2 million claims, up from 28.1 million in 2020.

Spending per claim is gross drug cost, including dispensing fees and before rebates, according to CMS's methodology¹⁴, and a claim can hold any number of tablets. FDA's shortage list as of Nov. 3, 2026 had no losartan entry, according to the openFDA shortage data¹⁵ behind our shortage tracker.

Where losartan sits now

At 99 cents for 30 tablets in October 2026, losartan cost pharmacies more than amlodipine (31 cents) or lisinopril (54 cents) and far less than valsartan 160 mg ($3.18), according to the 2026 NADAC files¹⁶. Our comparison of seven blood pressure generics puts all of them side by side. Since January 2014 losartan is down 55 percent, close to the 53 percent decline in the GxRadar generic price index, which stood at 47.4 in October 2026.

Anyone with a question about a recalled lot can check it against FDA's list or ask a pharmacist, which is what FDA's recall page itself directs. Our guide to checking whether a medicine was recalled walks through the lot number and NDC. CMS says on its NADAC page¹⁷ that the moving average "will continue until further notice," and that it plans to seek stakeholder input on a permanent approach.