Drug Shortages can occur for many reasons, including manufacturing and quality problems, delays, and discontinuations. Manufacturers provide FDA most drug shortage information, and the agency works closely with them to prevent or reduce the impact of shortages. When a shortage is listed as current on the Drug Shortage Database, the FDA is aware of the supply situation and is working with the manufactures on efforts to mitigate the supply disruption. FDA also continue to work with manufacturers on shortage prevention efforts for drugs not yet listed on the Drug Shortage Database.
Different datasets use different unique identifiers, which can make it difficult to find the same drug in each dataset.
openFDA features harmonization on specific identifiers to make it easier to both search for and understand the drug products returned by API queries. These additional fields are attached to records in all categories, if applicable.
Review the chart below to better understand which fields are harmonized.
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