Methodology and sources

Every morning shortagewatch downloads the public shortage lists of five national medicines authorities, keeps a dated copy, matches each product to its active ingredient using the ATC classification, and recomputes every chart on the site.

Sources

• DEGermany: BfArM (Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices), via PharmNet.Bund. Supply-relevant medicines reported under a voluntary self-commitment; mostly hospital-relevant products.
• ITItaly: AIFA (Italian Medicines Agency), licensed CC-BY 4.0. All shortages reported by marketing-authorisation holders, including medicines being withdrawn.
• ESSpain: AEMPS (Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices), CIMA. All authorised presentations with a declared supply problem.
• ATAustria: BASG (Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care). All reported restrictions, listed per pack (PZN).
• BEBelgium: FAMHP (Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products), PharmaStatus / SAMv2. All authorised packs with a declared temporary unavailability.

English names of active ingredients come from the ATC reference in Belgium's SAMv2 database.

Matching

Products are grouped by ATC level 5 (one active ingredient or combination). A medicine counts as short in a country when at least one of its products is on that country's current list.

Reasons

Each authority words reasons differently. We map them to eight categories and show the original wording beside the category.

Durations and returns

Duration is the time since the start date the company reported, for shortages still open. Expected return dates are company estimates; many products have none.

Limits

Registers differ in scope, so raw counts are not comparable across countries. Germany lists supply-relevant medicines only. A product marked "announced" has a start date in the future. Spain does not publish reasons in its open data.

Information only. shortagewatch republishes what national medicines authorities have published. It is not medical advice. Do not stop or change a medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.