NADAC Drug Pricing Dashboard
National Average Drug Acquisition Cost
Drug Pricing Transparency
Data As Of
Products Tracked
Current Avg. Price
12-Month Change
What is NADAC?
The National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) is a weekly survey published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). It reflects the average price that retail community pharmacies pay their wholesalers to acquire a given drug product.
What does this dashboard show?
This dashboard tracks NADAC unit prices over time across drug classes, individual products, and package sizes. It allows researchers, payers, and policymakers to observe price trends, compare products within a drug class, and identify price movements.
Why does it matter?
NADAC is a transparent, invoice-based benchmark used in Medicaid reimbursement policy. Tracking changes in NADAC over time can reveal generic competition dynamics, brand price increases, and market consolidation — all of which affect drug affordability.
Source
Data is sourced from the CMS NADAC Reference Files, published weekly. The file contains unit prices for thousands of drug products across multiple package sizes, spanning from 2013 to the present.
CMS NADAC Reference Files →Processing
Raw NADAC records are grouped by product and effective date. The unit price displayed is the mean across all package sizes unless a specific size filter is applied. No prices are imputed or smoothed — every point corresponds to an actual CMS survey date.
Freshness
The dataset is updated regularly. The "Data As Of" indicator in the summary cards always reflects the most recent effective date present in the underlying data file — no manual configuration needed.
1. Select an Active Ingredient
Type to search the "Active Ingredient" dropdown. This is the generic drug name (e.g. Atorvastatin Calcium). All 1,700+ active ingredients in the NADAC file are available.
2. Narrow by Product or Size (optional)
Use the Products and Package Sizes dropdowns to focus on a subset. Leave them blank to show all products within the selected ingredient. Both dropdowns support multi-select and update dynamically.
3. Read the Chart
Hover anywhere on the chart for exact prices and dates. Click a product in the legend to hide or show it. Double-click to isolate a single product. Use the toolbar (top-right of the chart) to zoom, pan, or download PNG.