Drug data · shortage, price, volume

Albuterol oral liquid: listed 35 months as a shortage, and the generic benchmark price rose 36% since 2021

The FDA has listed this drug as short in the past. The pharmacy benchmark says the generic oral liquid now costs $0.061 per mL, against $0.044 in 2016. Availability and price are different measures, so this page shows both over time.

FDA shortage list, 2026-10-27NADAC, October 2026Medicaid SDUDinferred monthno data

The oral liquid was on the FDA list from October 2023 to August 2026, 35 months, and is not listed now.
28% of shortage listings since 2014 lasted as long as this one. The median lasts 20 months.
A generic 0.833 mg/mL (per mL) oral liquid costs pharmacies $0.061 per mL on the NADAC benchmark in October 2026, 36% above its 2021 median.
Medicaid paid for 443,363 oral liquid prescriptions in Q4 2025, 307% more than in Q4 2021.

Not medical advice. This page reports public records about supply and pharmacy cost. Ask a pharmacist or prescriber about your own medication.

Three clocks on one timeline

Each lane uses the same monthly axis, so you can read across: when the FDA listed the oral liquid, what pharmacies were paying, and how many Medicaid prescriptions were filled.

on the listinferred across a missing captureno capture or no price$ per mLprescriptionspreliminary quarter

Swipe the chart sideways to see all 14 years.

Top: months the oral liquid name was on the FDA list (Wayback captures of the FDA page; the current FDA record says posted 2022-10-25). Middle: NADAC per mL, one line per strength. Bottom: Medicaid prescriptions per quarter. Medicaid volume: 65,187 rows pulled for this drug, 22,851 (35%) suppressed by CMS for small cells and left out, never counted as zero, so every bar is a floor; state XX national rows excluded; the hatched latest quarter is preliminary. Fills also move with Medicaid enrollment, so a change is not by itself evidence of a shortage.

How long do shortages last?

Each step is a drop in the share of FDA shortage listings still running. The dot is this drug.

Kaplan-Meier on 430 listings, 2014 to 2026, by ingredient. 18 months have no capture and are bridged by inference.

What a pharmacy pays per unit

NADAC is the average price retail pharmacies pay, per mL.

NADAC prices this form per mL. It is acquisition cost, not a retail price.

Which forms are short

FDA listing by dosage form
Form	Listed now	Months listed	FDA records (2026-10-27)
oral liquid	No (last listed August 2026)	35	(3 records)
inhalation	No	0	none
tablet	No	0	none

Price by strength

Oral liquid: generic acquisition cost per mL by strength
Strength	Now	2021 median	First month	Now vs 2021	NDCs
0.21 mg/mL (per mL)	$0.221	$0.250	$0.3182013-11	-11%	6
0.4 mg/mL (per mL)	$0.031	$0.041	$0.0392019-11	-24%	2
0.417 mg/mL (per mL)	$0.192	$0.252	$0.3282013-11	-24%	7
0.833 mg/mL (per mL)	$0.061	$0.045	$0.0442016-08	+36%	9
5 mg/mL (per item)	$0.520	$0.364	$0.3652013-11	+43%	3

Inhalation: generic acquisition cost per gram by strength (not on the FDA list)
Strength	Now	2021 median	First month	Now vs 2021	History	NDCs
90 mcg	$1.96	$3.78	$3.832020-04	-48%		10

Tablet: generic acquisition cost per tablet by strength (not on the FDA list)
Strength	Now	2021 median	First month	Now vs 2021	History	NDCs
2 mg	$0.312	n/a	$3.812013-11	n/a	4-month gap in NADAC reporting	7
4 mg	$0.447	$0.677	$3.662013-11	-34%		5

Read the price with care. NADAC is a national survey average of retail pharmacy invoices. It is not a quote, not what any patient paid, and it excludes discounts and rebates. A flat or falling benchmark during a shortage means pharmacies' average invoice cost did not rise, not that every patient could find the drug at that price.

FDA caution. The FDA drug shortage list is updated as manufacturers report and should not be relied on for medical care. Ask a pharmacist or prescriber about supply.

Questions

Is Albuterol still in shortage?

The oral liquid is not on the FDA shortage list as of 2026-10-27. It was listed from October 2023 to August 2026. FDA says not to rely on the list for medical care; ask a pharmacist.

Did the shortage raise the pharmacy price?

In the benchmark, yes. The NADAC survey average for a generic 0.833 mg/mL (per mL) oral liquid is $0.061 per mL in October 2026, 36% above its 2021 median and 39% above August 2016. NADAC is a national average of retail pharmacy invoices, so it measures what pharmacies pay on average, not what any one patient was charged.

Did Medicaid fills fall during the shortage?

No. CMS State Drug Utilization Data shows 443,363 Medicaid-paid oral liquid prescriptions in Q4 2025, 307% more than in Q4 2021 (109,015). Those counts are a floor because CMS suppresses small cells, they cover Medicaid only and move with Medicaid enrollment, and they count prescriptions that were filled, not demand that went unmet. A change in fills is not by itself evidence of a shortage.

If you are trying to pay for or find this drug

Check whether your plan covers it. Tier, prior authorisation and quantity limits for Medicare Part D and commercial plans, 2026 and 2027.
Look for a free or reduced-cost programme. Manufacturer and nonprofit programmes with their income limits. Confirm current terms with the programme itself.
Check interactions before any switch. If a pharmacist offers a different strength or product, compare it against everything else you take.

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Cite this page

Figures are calculated from U.S. federal sources (see Data terms below) and rebuilt from dated snapshots. Cite it as:

OmniRx, "Albuterol: FDA shortage, NADAC acquisition cost and Medicaid utilization", data as of October 2026. https://omnirx.org/drugs/albuterol

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Sources

FDA Drug Shortages list and the openFDA drug shortages API, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Internet Archive captures of the FDA list page, 2014 to 2026, for monthly history (18 months have no usable capture).
CMS NADAC weekly acquisition cost datasets, 2013 to 2026 (one dataset per year on data.medicaid.gov). Brand and generic follow CMS's own classification for rate setting.
CMS State Drug Utilization Data, 2013 to 2026.
openFDA NDC directory for identifiers.

Data terms. Every source above is published by a U.S. federal agency (CMS or FDA). CMS's data site labels its datasets inconsistently: of the 14 NADAC years, 5 carry the "public domain" label and 9 the "U.S. government works" label; of the 14 State Drug Utilization Data years, 6 carry the "public domain" label and 8 the "U.S. government works" label. We record each dataset's label verbatim and cite the source for every figure. Figures on this page are OmniRx calculations from those datasets, not statements by CMS or FDA, and no agency endorses this page.