
The report equips industry and regulators with actionable intelligence to improve drug safety, reduce defects, and strengthen supply‑chain resilience, directly influencing public health outcomes.
The FDA’s annual Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality functions as a diagnostic dashboard for the nation’s drug supply. By consolidating post‑market defect statistics, recall frequencies, and import‑alert incidents, the FY 2024 edition offers a granular view of where quality lapses occur. This transparency not only satisfies public demand for safety but also equips the agency with evidence‑based metrics to prioritize inspections and allocate resources efficiently.
Beyond raw numbers, the report underscores a shift toward integrated surveillance technologies. Combining traditional inspections with data‑analytics platforms, electronic batch records, and supply‑chain traceability tools enables a more proactive stance on quality assurance. The FY 2024 findings reveal a modest decline in high‑severity defects, suggesting that these complementary tools are beginning to yield measurable improvements across manufacturing sites and imported products.
For pharmaceutical companies, the report serves as both a benchmark and a roadmap. Understanding emerging trends—such as increased scrutiny of biologics and heightened focus on foreign‑manufactured APIs—allows firms to pre‑empt regulatory actions and invest in robust quality‑management systems. As the FDA continues to refine its surveillance framework, stakeholders who align their processes with the report’s insights will likely experience smoother compliance pathways and enhanced market confidence.
FY 2024 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 3.05 MB)
Everyone deserves confidence in their next dose of medicine. A quality medicine is safe, effective, and available for the people who need it. The Office of Pharmaceutical Quality’s mission is to assure that quality medicines are available to the American public. Drug manufacturers are responsible for complying with regulations and ensuring their products meet quality standards. Quality is complex, involving the product, process, facility, and supply chain. There is no single tool that can assure quality, but a combination of complementary tools can make it feasible to surveil the U.S. pharmaceutical market.
The Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality is published annually to share key quality data, assessment of trends, and insights about quality surveillance programs with the public.
The annual Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality is intended to help characterize the quality of the U.S. drug supply chain. It is updated each year to provide current and cumulative data about pharmaceutical manufacturers, their products, and post‑market quality defects. In addition, this report provides insights about import‑alert additions, recalls, and warning letters. The report also highlights emerging approaches to surveil, characterize, and advance pharmaceutical quality. FDA uses the Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality, in part, to inform regulatory decision‑making and quality‑surveillance activities.
2023 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 7 MB)
2022 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 8 MB)
2021 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 1 MB)
2020 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 1 MB)
2019 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 793 KB)
2018 Report on the State of Pharmaceutical Quality (PDF – 285 KB)
Content current as of: 12/12/2025
Regulated Product(s): Drugs
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