Drug data · shortage, price, volume
Azithromycin tablets: listed 9 months as a shortage, and the generic benchmark price fell 48% since 2021
The FDA has listed this drug as short in the past. The pharmacy benchmark says the generic tablet now costs $0.271 each, against $0.501 in 2013. Availability and price are different measures, so this page shows both over time.
- The tablet was on the FDA list from May 2020 to January 2021, 9 months, and is not listed now.
- 74% of shortage listings since 2014 lasted as long as this one. The median lasts 20 months.
- A generic 250 mg tablet costs pharmacies $0.271 on the NADAC benchmark in October 2026, 48% below its 2021 median.
- Medicaid paid for 960,003 tablet prescriptions in Q4 2025, 14% 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 tablet, what pharmacies were paying, and how many Medicaid prescriptions were filled.
Swipe the chart sideways to see all 14 years.
How long do shortages last?
Each step is a drop in the share of FDA shortage listings still running. The dot is this drug.
What a pharmacy pays per unit
NADAC is the average price retail pharmacies pay, per tablet.
Which forms are short
| Form | Listed now | Months listed | FDA records (2026-10-27) |
|---|---|---|---|
| tablet | No (last listed January 2021) | 9 | (2 records) |
| oral liquid | No | 0 | none |
Price by strength
| Strength | Now | 2021 median | First month | Now vs 2021 | History | NDCs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 mg | $0.271 | $0.522 | $0.5012013-11 | -48% | 28 | |
| 500 mg | $0.546 | $0.992 | $1.552014-04 | -45% | 24 | |
| 600 mg | $0.627 | $1.25 | $2.122018-02 | -50% | 6 |
| Strength | Now | 2021 median | First month | Now vs 2021 | History | NDCs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 mg/mL | $0.350 | $0.624 | $0.6452013-11 | -44% | 5 | |
| 40 mg/mL | $0.239 | $0.377 | $0.4482013-11 | -37% | 19 |
Questions
Is Azithromycin still in shortage?
The tablet is not on the FDA shortage list as of 2026-10-27. It was listed from May 2020 to January 2021. FDA says not to rely on the list for medical care; ask a pharmacist.
Did the shortage raise the pharmacy price?
Not in the benchmark. The NADAC survey average for a generic 250 mg tablet is $0.271 in October 2026, 48% below its 2021 median and 46% below November 2013. 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 960,003 Medicaid-paid tablet prescriptions in Q4 2025, 14% more than in Q4 2021 (845,802). 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.
What does a pharmacy pay for 30 generic 250 mg tablets?
About $8.12 on the NADAC benchmark ($0.271 per tablet times 30). That is acquisition cost, not a retail price: it excludes dispensing fees, discounts and rebates.
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:
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- 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.