# gauge/drug-shortage-region

> gauge/drug-shortage-region is a paid API for AI agents from api.truthbear.co, paid per call via x402, $0.25/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Returns a 3-leg sequential chain gauging drug shortage pressure for a specified therapeutic class, from new shortage incidence through active burden to resolution rate.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.truthbear.co/gauge/drug-shortage-region
- Price: $0.25/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/gauge-drug-shortage-region-edddd03a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_2iZTU5jJ-NBDryAVrk0P8

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability gauge-drug-shortage-region-edddd03a
```

Example prompt: Can you pull the drug shortage chain for oncology — I want to see the new shortage incidence, current active shortages, and how well they're resolving right now?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a structured, multi-leg sequential signal about drug shortage pressure for a specific therapeutic class, sourced directly from openFDA. It is best for monitoring and awareness use cases — not for forecasting or clinical decision-making. Prefer this over raw FDA lookups when you want a pre-aggregated chain from leading incidence through active burden to resolution, with a built-in confidence indicator. Supported therapeutic classes include oncology, anesthesia, psychiatry-cns, analgesia-opioid, anti-infective, and cardiovascular (18 total).

## Known failure modes

- 422 no_charge returned when no data is available for the requested entity — call is not billed
- Invalid or unsupported entity value causes request rejection — use GET /gauge/catalog?signal_id=<signal_id> to retrieve valid entity list
- Missing required 'entity' query parameter causes request failure
- openFDA data source unavailability may reduce number of lit legs and lower confidence score

## How this service works

[3-LEG] Drug shortage chain, one therapeutic class (?entity=oncology): leading new-shortage incidence from openFDA new listings, which leads the burden peak -> current current active shortages in the class -> realized resolution rate (confirmation gate). A chain, not one reading: confidence = how many legs are lit, in order. Sources: openFDA. Descriptive only, never a forecast or advice. No data -> 422 no_charge, not billed. $0.25 per call.

## Output

A sequential 3-leg chain result: Leg 1 is new-shortage incidence (leading indicator from openFDA new listings), Leg 2 is current active shortages in the therapeutic class, and Leg 3 is the realized resolution rate (confirmation gate). A confidence score reflects how many legs are lit in order. Returns descriptive data only — no forecast or advice. Returns 422 no_charge if no data is available (not billed).

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "type": "string",
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ]
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "additionalProperties": false,
     "properties": {
      "entity": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "required - monitored object id, paired with signal_id; free list at GET /gauge/catalog?signal_id=<signal_id> -> signals[0].entities[]",
       "examples": [
        "anesthesia",
        "oncology",
        "psychiatry-cns",
        "analgesia-opioid",
        "anti-infective",
        "cardiovascular"
       ],
       "x-accepted-values": {
        "shown": 6,
        "total": 18,
        "all": "https://api.truthbear.co/schemas/gauge-drug-shortage-region.input.json"
       }
      }
     },
     "required": [
      "entity"
     ]
    }
   },
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "queryParams"
   ]
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {}
   },
   "required": [
    "type"
   ]
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "legs": {
   "onset": {
    "band": "surging",
    "source_ref": "https://api.fda.gov/drug/shortages.json",
    "record_hash": "sha256:c1ca2eec2f8f1898a48deca396ed9f5e24005dc4de019180094c79a7ff32988d"
   },
   "burden": {
    "band": "severe",
    "source_ref": "https://api.fda.gov/drug/shortages.json",
    "record_hash": "sha256:95c901069fbd9db272dce74457eaca702df546c8d3e35433a07af662c9aa8bd3"
   },
   "entrenchment": {
    "band": "entrenched",
    "source_ref": "https://api.fda.gov/drug/shortages.json",
    "record_hash": "sha256:be5b2a361a74d8980e135977cba95fad95779b87273fa92966aa76b9dc22ea2a"
   }
  },
  "name": "Anesthesia / Anesthetics",
  "grade": "screening-level, not decision-grade",
  "scope": {
   "full": "https://api.truthbear.co/scope/v1",
   "verifiability": "unknown",
   "monitoring_not_forecast": true,
   "intelligence_not_command": true
  },
  "entity": "anesthesia",
  "nature": "This API supplies data organisation and trend description only. It is not a recommendation to act; the decision is yours. Purely descriptive - no judgement, no prediction. Official source plus record_hash; verify with the free /gauge/verify.",
  "provenance": {
   "freshness": "fresh",
   "age_hours_now": 23,
   "freshness_basis": "cadence=default; fresh<=24h; recent<=192h; dead_source>1440h; age_basis=request-time(now minus observed_at)"
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/gauge-drug-shortage-region-edddd03a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.truthbear.co](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.truthbear.co/llms.txt)