# Saylor Innovations Data Desk – FDA Drug Shortage Database

> Saylor Innovations Data Desk – FDA Drug Shortage Database is a paid API for AI agents from saylorinnovations.com, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-30).

Queries the FDA drug shortage database by drug name, returning shortage status, presentation, dosage form, availability, manufacturer, therapeutic category, NDC, and last update timestamp

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://saylorinnovations.com/api/drugs/shortages?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-30
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/saylor-innovations-data-desk-fda-drug-shortage-database-b2a377ee
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_Cyg6giRixN2-jRzH9R6K9

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 saylor-innovations-data-desk-fda-drug-shortage-database-b2a377ee
```

Example prompt: What does the FDA drug shortage database say about amoxicillin right now — show me the shortage status, dosage form, availability, and which manufacturer is affected?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need structured, machine-readable FDA drug shortage data with rich metadata (NDC, manufacturer contact, therapeutic category, presentation details) rather than scraping the FDA website directly. Prefer this over general web search when you need programmatic access to shortage status for monitoring workflows, formulary planning, or supply chain alerting. Best suited for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and compliance applications that need reliable, up-to-date shortage information on demand.

## Known failure modes

- No shortages found for specified drug name returns empty shortages array
- Invalid or missing query parameter returns all shortages up to the default limit
- limit parameter out of range (>25 or <1) may return default 10 results or error
- Stale data if FDA source has not been recently synced — check last_updated field
- Network or payment authorization failure returns non-200 HTTP status

## How this service works

FDA drug shortage database by drug name and status - presentation, dosage form, availability, manufacturer, therapeutic category, NDC and last update

## Output

A JSON object containing a status field, the interpreted query, the data source attribution, a count of results, an optional note with context, and an array of shortage entries. Each entry includes the generic drug name, NDC, dosage form, presentation (strength and packaging), current shortage status, availability note, manufacturer name and contact, therapeutic category, first posted date, last updated date, and update type.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "properties": {
      "q": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "optional drug name; omit to list the current shortages"
      },
      "limit": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "optional 1-25, default 10"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "status",
      "shortages"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "note": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Caveat or context for reading the result"
      },
      "count": {
       "type": "number",
       "description": "Number of items returned"
      },
      "query": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "The query as the server interpreted it"
      },
      "source": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Data source the values come from"
      },
      "status": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Current status"
      },
      "shortages": {
       "type": "array",
       "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
         "ndc": {
          "type": [
           "string",
           "null"
          ],
          "description": "Package NDC"
         },
         "drug": {
          "type": [
           "string",
           "null"
          ],
          "description": "Generic drug name"
         },
         "status": {
          "description": "Current status"
         },
         "company": {
          "type": [
           "string",
           "null"
          ],
          "description": "Manufacturer"
         },
         "contact": {
          "type": [
           "string",
           "null"
          ],
          "description": "Manufacturer contact"
         },
         "dosage_form": {
          "description": "Dosage form"
         },
         "update_type": {
          "description": "Update type"
         },
         
… (truncated)
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/saylor-innovations-data-desk-fda-drug-shortage-database-b2a377ee/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from saylorinnovations.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/saylorinnovations.com/llms.txt)