MedDRA preferred term

Inability to afford medication: adverse event reports recording this term

9,704 reports to FDA record it, 2008–2026; 0.1% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

9,704
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 1,021
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 1,478 in the 12 months before; 37%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 1.8%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

9,704 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Inability to afford medication": 0.1% of all reports received between December 2008 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

1,021 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, down 31% from 1,478 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 37% are marked serious, 1.8% include death among the outcomes and 14.4% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Vyvanse, Xifaxan and Eliquis. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Vyvanse	Central nervous system stimulant	956	5.4%
Xifaxan	Rifamycin antibacterial	692	4.9%
Eliquis	Factor Xa inhibitor	619	0.5%
Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate	Central nervous system stimulant	386	9%
Rexulti	Atypical antipsychotic	340	2.7%
Adderall	Central nervous system stimulant	271	2.7%
Gemtesa	beta3-Adrenergic agonist	264	4.5%
Januvia	Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor	233	0.8%
Advair Diskus	Corticosteroid	220	1.1%
Cimzia	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	171	0.2%
Abilify	Atypical antipsychotic	169	0.3%
Symbicort	Corticosteroid	157	0.4%
Breo Ellipta	Corticosteroid	130	0.6%
Motegrity	—	130	12%
Myrbetriq	beta3-Adrenergic agonist	118	0.6%
Trelegy Ellipta	Anticholinergic	118	0.4%
Human immunoglobulin g	Human immunoglobulin G	114	0.7%
Nuedexta	Antiarrhythmic	100	4%
Advair Hfa	Corticosteroid	93	0.5%
Aripiprazole	Atypical antipsychotic	91	0.3%
Naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride	Aminoketone	91	1.1%
Certolizumab pegol	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	89	0.3%
Abilify Maintena	—	83	0.9%
Lialda	Aminosalicylate	80	2.1%
Janumet	Biguanide	72	0.7%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.1% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Central nervous system stimulant	1,672	1.5%	0%
Corticosteroid	739	0.1%	0%
Rifamycin antibacterial	698	2.9%	0.6%
Atypical antipsychotic	649	0.1%	0%
Factor Xa inhibitor	621	0.2%	0%
beta3-Adrenergic agonist	394	1.4%	0.6%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	343	0%	0%
Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor	243	0.5%	0%
Human immunoglobulin G	214	0.3%	0%
Aminosalicylate	203	0.3%	0.5%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20%3

2 to 110.9%88

12 to 170.9%86

18 to 447.6%733

45 to 6414.4%1,401

65 to 7412.6%1,220

75 and over8.9%859

Age not given54.8%5,314

Patient sex

Female54.4%5,276

Male30.8%2,984

Not given14.9%1,444

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 94% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Inability to afford medication"

What does "Inability to afford medication" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record inability to afford medication?

9,704 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 1,021 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Vyvanse (956), Xifaxan (692), Eliquis (619), Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (386) and Rexulti (340). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.