Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not complied with a public-records request about the state's proposed program to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Tampa, came after state Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Simone Marstiller submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on July 6 seeking numerous records about drug-importation proposals by Florida and other states.

"FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) requires the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to process records requests and promptly provide the requested records or the reasonably segregable portion of records not subject to a FOIA exemption," the 11-page lawsuit said. "The FDA has neither provided AHCA (the Agency for Health Care Administration) any responsive documents in response to its request, nor has the FDA claimed that any responsive records are exempt from disclosure. Therefore, the FDA's failure to produce requested records or claim applicable exemptions violates FOIA."