When Your Primary Is Out: a Drug-Shortage Sourcing Playbook for Pharmacies
Empire Rx Distributors · 6 min read
Shortages are a when, not an if
Every pharmacy eventually faces the empty tote: the generic you dispense daily is on backorder with no ETA. The stores that handle it well aren't lucky — they have a process ready before the pressure hits.
Confirm it's a real shortage
Check the FDA Drug Shortages database and ASHP's shortage list. They tell you whether the shortage is manufacturer-wide or just your wholesaler's allocation, and which presentations are still moving. If it's allocation, your first call is your primary's rep about limits; if it's market-wide, you're sourcing.
Vet at speed, not on faith
Shortage pressure is exactly when grey-market operators appear with miracle stock at miracle prices. The checklist doesn't shrink because you're in a hurry: verifiable state license, NABP accreditation, T3 data, authorized-trading-partner sourcing. A legitimate secondary can prove all four in an hour. An unverifiable seller with stock 'everyone else is out of' is how counterfeits reach patients.
Think in therapeutic equivalents
Often the same molecule is available in a different pack size, strength (adjusting fills accordingly), or from a different manufacturer. Search by generic name across NDCs rather than the one code your system reorders. A supplier whose search handles generic names, brand cross-references, and NDC fragments earns its keep on exactly these days.
Build the relationship before you need it
The best shortage insurance is a second supplier who already knows you — account open, license verified, payment set up — before the crisis. Opening an account during the shortage costs you the days you don't have.
How we handle shortages
Empire Rx stocks what we sell — our listings show live quantity and dating, not a drop-ship promise. When a shortage item lands in our warehouse, back-in-stock alerts on our store email the pharmacies watching that NDC the moment it's available. Open the account now, set your alerts, and the next shortage starts with an email instead of a scramble.
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