What FDA's shortage list shows in November 2026

On Nov. 3, 2026, FDA's drug shortage database held 230 entries. Sixty-nine were current shortages. Forty-nine of those 69 were injections, and the median current shortage had been on the list for 1,710 days, about four years and eight months.

Those figures come from GxRadar's snapshot of the database as FDA publishes it through the openFDA drug shortages endpoint¹, grouped by drug. This piece breaks the snapshot down by status, dosage form, FDA's therapeutic tags, the reason FDA records, and age. Our shortage tracker carries the full, updated list, and our guide to reading FDA's shortage database explains each field.

A monthly look matters because the headline number moves slowly while its contents do not. Most new entries in 2026 were not new shortages at all but notices that a product is being discontinued. Meanwhile the current list is dominated by hospital injectables that have been short for years.

Counts by status

Source: GxRadar analysis of FDA shortage records via openFDA¹, as of Nov. 3, 2026.

Status labels follow FDA's definitions. A shortage exists when "the demand or projected demand for the drug within the United States exceeds the supply of the drug," the wording of section 506C⁴. A "to be discontinued" entry reflects a manufacturer's notice of a permanent discontinuance, which FDA's shortage FAQ² says is posted "for informational purposes only." The resolved count is small by design: the FAQ says resolved shortages stay on the page for six months and discontinuations for one year.

That retention rule explains the dates. Of the 156 discontinuation entries, 125 were first posted in 2026 and 30 in 2025. Only one dates to 2023. Our article on discontinued drugs on the shortage list looks at what those notices cover.

What form the current shortages take

Source: GxRadar analysis of openFDA shortage records¹, Nov. 3, 2026. Each drug carries one dosage form in this snapshot.

A 71% injectable share is not new. FDA's 2013 strategic plan⁷ said shortages "predominantly affect sterile injectable products." An HHS analysis⁹ found that 74% of 2010 shortages involved sterile injectables, and FDA's 2019 root-cause report⁶ found that 63% of 163 drugs that went into shortage from 2013 to 2017 were given by injection. The two powders on the list, cefotaxime and streptozocin, are also reconstituted for injection, so the practical share is higher. Our explainer on why sterile injectables dominate shortage lists covers the economics.

Discontinuations look different. Injections are 58 of its 156 entries, or 37%, while tablets and capsules of all kinds account for 62.

Therapeutic areas

FDA tags each shortage with one or more therapeutic categories. The FAQ² says the tag describes "labeled indications and populations in which the drug is commonly used" and "does not indicate FDA approved status." Forty-five of the 69 current shortages carry one tag; the rest carry two to 10, so shares sum to more than 100%.

Source: GxRadar analysis of openFDA shortage records¹, Nov. 3, 2026. Eight smaller categories, from rheumatology to medical imaging, account for 17 more tags.

Fourteen of the 17 pediatric-tagged shortages are injections. All seven psychiatry-tagged shortages are oral, and five of them are stimulants used for attention-deficit disorders, a group shaped by federal production quotas as described in our piece on DEA quotas and shortages. Our October breakdown, shortages by therapeutic area, adds median durations by category.

The reasons FDA records

The statute behind the list³ tells FDA to give a reason for each shortage, chosen from seven categories, from good manufacturing practice problems to "demand increase for the drug." In practice the most common entries are outside that list.

Source: GxRadar analysis of openFDA shortage records¹, Nov. 3, 2026. Shares do not sum to 100 because of rounding.

Only three current shortages are attributed to manufacturing-quality requirements, though FDA's FAQ² says "manufacturing quality issues are the most common reason for drug shortages." The gap between the two is the subject of our analysis of shortage reasons in FDA data. Of the 15 demand-driven entries, 14 are injectables or injectable powders, including dexamethasone, lidocaine, midazolam and sterile water.

How long they have lasted

Source: GxRadar analysis of openFDA¹ first-posted dates, measured to Nov. 3, 2026. Median: 1,710 days.

Six shortages predate 2017. Atropine and fentanyl injections were first posted Jan. 1, 2012; lidocaine injection and lidocaine with epinephrine followed on Feb. 22, 2012. The newest current entry, pentostatin injection, was posted Aug. 27, 2026, and four in all were first posted in 2026. Our piece on how long drug shortages last tracks these durations over time.

Duration and availability are separate measures. FDA's FAQ warns that an "available" status "is not an FDA determination that the shortage has been resolved." In this snapshot, 49 current shortages had a most-reported status of available, six limited, and 14 unavailable, including carboplatin, ketorolac and valproate injections and quinapril tablets.

How this compares with FDA's annual count

FDA's own year-end figure is broader. The agency reported 93 ongoing shortages at the end of 2025, 71 tracked by its drug center and 22 by its biologics center, according to its CY 2025 report to Congress⁵. The openFDA feed used here covers the drug center's list. FDA counted 15 new shortages in 2024, according to its CY 2024 report⁸, and only four in 2025, the lowest in a decade. That fits a list that is aging more than it is growing. FDA's next annual report, covering 2026, is due by March 31, 2027.