Reading Shortage Data Across Canada, the US, the Netherlands and France for Sourcing Decisions
The four shortage registers Nexara Health tracks use different definitions. How to read Canadian, US, Dutch and French records together to decide whether a shortage is local or systemic.
Four registers, four vocabularies
Each shortage register defines "shortage" differently, so the same molecule can be active in one and absent from another without contradiction.
- Canada — Drug Shortages Canada. Mandatory reporting by market authorization holders; statuses are anticipated, actual, resolved, avoided, plus discontinuation reports [1].
- United States — FDA Drug Shortages. FDA lists current and resolved shortages with reason categories and estimated resolution; ASHP maintains a broader practitioner-reported list [2].
- Netherlands — Farmanco (KNMP). Pharmacist-facing register of unavailable products with expected availability dates and substitution advice; the CBG/MEB handles regulatory exemptions [3].
- France — ANSM. ANSM publishes ruptures de stock and risques de rupture for medicines of major therapeutic interest (MITM), with supply-tension measures [4].
How to read them together
1. A Canadian shortage with no US or EU record usually means a single-supplier or single-site problem for the Canadian presentation — a foreign-pack import is the likely fix.
2. The same molecule active in two or more registers signals an API or manufacturing-site issue; expect it to last, and look at manufacturers on other API sources in the [molecule supply graph](/molecule/adalimumab/suppliers).
3. Resolved in the US but active in Canada is common because of the size difference between markets; US relaunch often precedes Canadian resupply by weeks.
What Nexara Health publishes
Every non-Canadian shortage record we track has its own page with the status timeline, the Canadian DINs of the same molecule, and the registrations elsewhere; Canadian records use the [Shortage Pulse pages](/drug-shortages). The weekly [FDA digest](/resources/regulatory-digest) lists openings and resolutions so partners see the trend, not just the snapshot.
Sources
[1] Drug Shortages Canada — https://www.drugshortagescanada.ca/
[2] U.S. FDA, Drug Shortages — https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/drug-shortages
[3] KNMP Farmanco — https://farmanco.knmp.nl/
[4] ANSM, Disponibilité des produits de santé (ruptures de stock) — https://ansm.sante.fr/disponibilites-des-produits-de-sante/medicaments