LAKELAND, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday a lawsuit against the Food & Drug Administration for what he said are continued delays in plans to allow lower-cost Canadian medications into the Florida market.
Joining him were Attorney General Ashley Moody, Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, and Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller.
DeSantis said that 630 days after getting assurances from the FDA and verbal support from the Biden administration that the allowance would be pushed through, he was tired of waiting.
"Biden is saying he wants this for consumers," DeSantis said, "but yet his administration is not willing to act to approve it."
MORE | Read the suit in full [PDF]
"An agency of the administration cannot just sit on applications," Moody added. "They cannot unreasonably delay. We are getting it done."
DeSantis last visited the drug warehouse facility in May of 2021, where the topic was also about his push for lower drug costs.
In that visit, the governor decried federal hurdles towards getting approval for the importation of lower-cost pharmaceuticals from Canada.
From 2003 to 2020, outpatient prescription drug prices increased from more than $177 billion to approximately $500 billion dollars. Today, we call on the Biden Administration to approve Florida’s plan to lower prescription costs.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 28, 2021
Watch live: https://t.co/ijGQDudO6Y
In July of this year, DeSantis visited Cape Coral, where he announced he would sign an executive order allowing the state to hold prescription benefit managers, or PBMs, accountable for the prices people are ultimately charged for their medications, and open the door to reforms. He said it would also help smaller, independent pharmacies that want to stock those medications.
