Cholic acid

Drug ingredient

CAS 81-25-4

This chemical is an active pharmaceutical ingredient used in FDA-regulated drugs.

US productionNot reported

Import value, 2024$81M

Top sourceChina 35%

This chemical is listed as active in US commerce, but no company reported it to EPA’s survey for 2019 or 2023. Sites may have made or imported less than the threshold amount, or none.

Why supply is unknown

Production is reported production, not a complete census of factories. Import value and source-country shares describe a shared customs category, not a separate chemical measurement.

Where It Comes From

Customs basis: HS 291819 · basket

These shares come from HS customs code 291819, which covers 96 tracked chemicals in total. They estimate the category's origin mix, not this chemical specifically.

Source Countries

Country of origin for US imports, from Census customs data (2024).

CN 35%ChinaIN 34%IndiaIT 9%ItalyDE 9%GermanyJP 4%Japan

Switzerland
Ukraine
Colombia
Taiwan
Belgium
Israel
Sweden
Hungary
Ireland
Slovakia

7 FDA-registered drug labelers

Dipharma Francis S.r.l.

Manchester Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Mirum Pharmaceuticals Inc.

New Zealand Pharmaceuticals Limited

NURAY CHEMICALS PRIVATE LIMITED

Patheon France S.A.S

STHREE CHEMICALS PRIVATE LIMITED

Why It Matters

Sectors

Health

Downstream Uses

Appears in 1 drug and cosmetic product listings (FDA).

•Cholbam

FDA Shortage Status

Whether any manufacturer currently reports this drug as in shortage on the FDA Drug Shortages database. "Active Shortage" means at least one presentation has status "current."

No Shortage

Vendor Pricing

$0.21/gAngene Chemical

CountryChina (registered: Hong Kong)

Pack$106.00 / 500 g

Purity45%

Vendors6 available

Prices reflect listed pack sizes. Small research packs run far above bulk rates.

5 more vendors

Vendor	Country	$/g	Pack	Purity
AA BLOCKS	United States	$0.63	5 kg	—
A2B Chem LLC	United States	$0.67	1 kg	—
Angene International Limited	United States	$1.51	250 g	—
Angene	China → Hong Kong	$4266.67	30 mg	42%
Asinex	Netherlands	$6461.40	100 mg	90%

Chemical Identity

CAS81-25-4

PubChem CID221493

DTXSIDDTXSID6040660

FormulaC24H40O5

Mol. Weight408.6 g/mol

SMILESCC(CCC(=O)O)C1CCC2C1(C(CC3C2C(CC4C3(CCC(C4)O)C)O)O)C

Data Sources

PubChem · compound 221493Retrieved 2026-04-07
EPA TSCA InventoryRetrieved 2026-04-24
FDA Drug ShortagesRetrieved 2026-06-13
US Census international tradeReporting year: 2024 · Retrieved 2026-10-04

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Brief citations

Cholic acid (CAS 81-25-4) https://chemicalindependence.com/chemical/81-25-4/ PubChem: 221493. Retrieved 2026-04-07. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/221493 EPA TSCA Inventory: CAS 81-25-4. Retrieved 2026-04-24. https://www.epa.gov/tsca-inventory FDA Drug Shortages: CAS 81-25-4. Retrieved 2026-06-13. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/ US Census international trade: HS 291819 for CAS 81-25-4. Reporting year: 2024. https://usatrade.census.gov/