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# Florida Sues FDA Over Drug Importation Plan
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/florida-sues-fda-over-drug-importation-plan/
- Published: 2022-08-30T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:57:47.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5152631

The state of Florida has filed a [lawsuit](http://www.fdaweb.com/download.php?file=florida%5F2022%5Fsuit.pdf) against FDA for failing to timely respond to a state-sought Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information about why its and other states’ requests to begin importing prescription drugs from Canada have stalled at the agency.

A rule advanced by the Trump Administration allows states to implement import programs as long as FDA approves their programs. Several groups including the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America have also launched a legal challenge to the importation program, which remains unresolved in federal court in Washington, DC.

“In the nearly two years while Florida’s SIP \[Section 804 Importation Program\] proposal has been pending, the FDA has asked for several clarifications and supplements but has provided no outward evidence of substantive progress towards approving the proposal,” the complaint says. “The FDA has also refused to provide a timeline for the approval process.”

The Florida complaint contends the state is ready, willing, and able to begin operating the program immediately, having already built a refrigerated distribution facility and retained an approved importer and distributor that are being paid $1.2 million per month.

Because FDA has not responded within FOIA’s statutory deadline, the state filed the lawsuit to compel the agency to respond to the FOIA request and provide the requested documents.