CounterScript / methodology
The National Average Drug Acquisition Cost is published weekly by CMS from invoice surveys of retail community pharmacies. It is the average price pharmacies paid to acquire each drug, per billing unit. We ingest each weekly file, archive it immutably (content-addressed, so every number on this site can be traced to the exact federal file it came from), and show the per-unit figure and its effective date. Multiple NDCs sharing a description are combined by median.
Acquisition cost for the stated quantity plus a professional dispensing fee range of $9–13, the band where most state Medicaid professional dispensing fees fall. It is an estimate of a reasonable cash price, not a rule: pharmacies lawfully charge what they choose, and service justifies real margin. We show a range because false precision would be dishonest.
Brand-to-generic links come from the FDA Orange Book: same ingredient, dosage form, route, and strength, restricted to therapeutic-equivalence coded products. We never suggest switching; we show what the record says exists.
Maximum Fair Prices negotiated under the Inflation Reduction Act, as published by CMS, shown with their effective year and source link. They apply to Medicare Part D coverage of the listed drugs.
No coupons, no pharmacy price comparisons (we do not scrape retail prices), no advice. One number class per source, each with provenance.