Drug List Scan
Paste or upload a formulary or any drug list and see, for every drug at once, shortages, supplier depth, protection end dates, staged generics, prices, recalls and Medicare spend, ranked by risk.
Open Drug List Scan -- in the sidebar under Drugs & Markets. Requires Pro or Teams.
Drug List Scan checks a whole list of drugs in one pass -- a formulary, a client portfolio, a purchasing list -- and ranks every drug by supply and market risk. Each drug gets the same facts as its Drug Profile: FDA shortage status, Orange Book and Purple Book protection, generic or biosimilar makers, FDA staged generics, CMS NADAC price, FDA recalls and Medicare Part B and Part D spend.
On the Regular plan the page explains that Drug List Scan is a Pro feature. Running a scan does not use credits.
Adding your list
The Your list editor takes one drug per line. Brand names, ingredient names and pharmacy-style lines such as Eliquis 5 mg tab or Albuterol neb 2.5mg/3ml all work. If you paste a single line with no line breaks, it is split on commas and semicolons.
- A line-number gutter runs down the left side, and lines you have already entered once are marked as repeated.
- Your pasted text is kept in your browser, so it is still there when you come back.
- Scan N drugs (or Ctrl+Enter, Cmd+Enter on a Mac) starts the scan.
- Clear empties the editor.
Uploading a file
Click Upload CSV or Excel, or drop a file onto the editor. Accepted formats are CSV, TSV, TXT and Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm). Old .xls files are not supported -- save them as .xlsx or .csv first.
The file view shows the file name, its row and column count and a preview of the names that will be scanned:
- Drug name column -- pick which column holds the drug names. Qope preselects the column that looks most like names.
- First row is a header -- untick it if your file has no header row.
- Use pasted text instead switches back to the editor.
Limits
- Up to 200 drugs per scan. A longer list is scanned up to the first 200, and the counter says so.
- Each line is read up to its first 200 characters.
Samples and starter lists
With an empty editor, Paste a sample formulary and Load a sample CSV load an example list so you can see the page work.
Below the editor, Scan one of these offers ready-made lists, each scanned with one click:
- Biggest brands losing protection -- the highest Medicare Part D spend among molecules whose protection ends within 36 months.
- Longest running shortages -- drugs in an ongoing FDA shortage, longest first.
- Next generic openings -- molecules whose last patent or exclusivity ends soonest, within 24 months.
Or a whole drug market scans every molecule in one of the Drug Markets classes.
How names are matched
Each line is cleaned before it is looked up against FDA Orange Book and Purple Book names:
- Strengths, numbers, text in parentheses and dosage-form words (tab, cap, pen, ER, XL, ODT, vial, inj and similar) are removed. A form word that is part of a brand name, such as
Toprol XL, still matches. - Common abbreviations are expanded: APAP (acetaminophen), ASA (aspirin), HCTZ (hydrochlorothiazide), KCL (potassium chloride) and MTX (methotrexate).
- Combinations written as
a/b,a-b,a, b,a + bora and bmatch the combination product. When several combination products fit, the one with the most generic listings is used. - When a multi-word line does not match, Qope tries its first word alone, so
Lantus Solostarmatches Lantus.
Salt forms. When you type a plain ingredient that has no generic listings of its own, the scan uses the salt form that has the most generics (for example methotrexate scans as methotrexate sodium). When a salt form has more generics than the form you typed, the row offers it under More generics as; click it to rescan that line.
Not matched. A line with no FDA match shows Not matched. Where Qope can find close names that do match, it offers up to three under Did you mean; click one to rescan that line with it. Otherwise the row suggests trying the brand or full ingredient name. A line that did not load (rather than not matching) says so -- run the scan again for that drug.
Results
Lines are checked in small batches, and results fill in as they arrive, with a progress bar. Edit list goes back to the editor with your list intact; New scan starts over with an empty editor.
Risk tiers
Every matched drug gets one tier. The first rule that applies wins:
| Tier | What puts a drug there |
|---|---|
| Act now | The drug is in an active FDA shortage, or it had a Class I recall in the last 12 months. |
| Watch | Only 1 or 2 generic (or biosimilar) makers are selling it; protection ends and generics or biosimilars can enter within 18 months; or it had a Class II or III recall in the last 12 months and supply is thin (1-2 makers, or no generic sold). |
| Brand only | No generic or biosimilar is sold yet, and none of the above applies. |
| Clear | None of the above. |
Each drug also lists its reasons, such as "In FDA shortage since ...", "Class I recall ...", "Only 2 generic makers", "Generics can enter ..." or "No generic sold". Each reason links to the matching tab of the drug's profile (Supply, Safety or Timeline).
A recall older than 12 months is still shown in the row but does not change the tier.
The verdict
The top of the results page sums up the scan:
- The read -- how many drugs need action now and why, how many more to watch, how much Medicare paid for the list and how much of it sits on drugs in shortage or with 1-2 makers, and how many drugs can open to competition within 18 months (and which one is first).
- Split bars -- the list split by tier, once by number of drugs (unmatched lines included) and once by Medicare spend. Click a tier in the legend to filter the list to it. When one tier holds a much larger share of the spend than of the drugs, a note under the bars says so.
- Stat strip -- Act now, Watch, Spend at supply risk (Medicare spend on drugs in shortage or with 1-2 makers), Opening <18 mo and Matched (matched lines out of all lines, and the number of distinct drugs when several lines match the same drug).
Drug counts and spend in the verdict count each distinct drug once, even if it appears on several lines.
Protection calendar
Protection ends shows the next 8 quarters, starting with the current one. Each quarter lists the drugs whose protection ends in it (up to five shown, then "+N more"), with the month and Medicare spend, and the quarters inside the 18-month window are highlighted. Each entry opens the drug's Timeline tab. For drugs, the date is the protection end of the listed product, the same date the drug's own page leads with. Estimated dates (such as an estimated biologic reference exclusivity end) are left out of the calendar. The calendar is hidden when nothing on the list ends protection in that window.
The list
The list is grouped by tier, highest risk first, and within a tier by Medicare spend. It shows 50 rows at a time; Show N more reveals the rest. Columns:
- Risk -- the tier badge and its reasons.
- Drug -- the matched drug (opens its Drug Profile), with the line as you typed it and the application holder.
- Medicare 2024, at least -- Part D plus Part B spend, with a bar scaled to the largest drug on the list. "Part B" marks a drug with Part B spend only.
- Shortage -- In shortage and the FDA availability note, when the drug is in an active shortage.
- Makers -- the number of generic or biosimilar makers selling it.
- Protection -- Generics on market (or Biosimilars on market) with the first generic date, or Opens with a date and the months left, or the reference exclusivity date for a biologic, or No protection on file. The count of staged generics is shown under it when there are any.
- NADAC -- the CMS acquisition price per unit and the product it was taken from.
- Latest recall -- the date, class and firm of the most recent recall.
Filters and search
The toolbar above the list has filter chips, each with its count: All, Act now, Watch, In shortage, 1-2 makers, Protection ends <18 mo, Recall in 12 mo, No generic sold and Not matched. Chips with no matching drugs are hidden.
Find in results searches the line you typed, the matched drug name, its brands and its application holder.
Watching and exporting
- Watch N at-risk in Radar adds every distinct Act now and Watch drug to your Radar, so you are alerted when anything changes. Drugs you already watch are counted as watched; drugs over your plan's watch limit are not added, and the confirmation says how many.
- Export CSV downloads every line of the scan: input, matched drug, status, risk, reasons, Medicare Part D and Part B spend, shortage and availability, generic or biosimilar makers, market open date, staged generics, NADAC price, unit and product, and the latest recall and its class. Each export counts once against your plan's monthly export allowance, and a team owner can turn exports off for a seat. See Usage and Limits.
Caveats worth knowing
- Medicare spend is a floor. It is what Medicare paid in 2024: Part D from the highest-spend prescriber lines, plus Part B. Commercial spend is not included.
- Generics approved but not sold do not count. "No generic sold" and the maker count follow generics actually on the market.
- Matching is name-based. Strengths and forms are removed before lookup, so the scan reports at the molecule or brand level, not per strength or NDC. Check the matched name against what you typed.
- A line that did not load is not a clean result. Run the scan again for any row marked as not loaded.