FDA FOIA Monitor
Updated 8/24/26: This baseline now reflects data through July 2026. Wait times shifted in a few doc types since the last revision, most notably FSVP, correspondence, and PMTA, which are now slower than previously reported. The requester landscape figures below have also been refreshed.
65,274 Closed FDA FOIA Requests.
Here Is What They Tell Us.
This special edition establishes the baseline: every FDA FOIA request on file from 2012 through July 2026, analyzed for volume trends, processing times, requester behavior, and document type patterns. 71,077 requests are on file in total; 5,803 remain pending and are not yet closed. The figures below reflect closed requests only unless noted. Bookmark it. Monthly issues will mark movement against this foundation.
Processing Times Are Rising. Fast.
2026 median close times, measured year-to-date against 2024. A handful of doc types, FSVP and agency correspondence especially, have gotten dramatically slower; a few, like 510(k) and inspection reports, have actually sped up.
Bar length (in block characters) proportional to 2026 YTD median, scaled to PMTA's 559-day median. Trend compares each doc type's 2024 full-year median to its 2026 YTD median.
Who Files FDA FOIA, and How They Do It
Of the 71,077 requests on file, commercial FOIA services dominate volume at 31.0% of all filings, just ahead of individual/citizen requesters at 27.9%. The most striking trend is still news media: outlets grew requests 232% from 2020 to 2025 (305 to 1,013), including 150% growth in 2024 alone (486 to 1,214).
| Category | Total | % of All | Median Days | Release Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial FOIA Services | 22,032 | 31.0% | 21 | 84.3% |
| Individual / Citizen | 19,840 | 27.9% | 27 | 65.4% |
| Regulated Industry | 15,951 | 22.5% | 24 | 70.7% |
| Law Firms | 5,865 | 8.3% | 36 | 64.8% |
|
News / Media Capitol Forum · Bloomberg · Daily Signal |
4,804 | 6.8% | 28 | 64.6% |
| Academic / Research | 1,905 | 2.7% | 25 | 70.7% |
| Advocacy / NGO | 523 | 0.7% | 36 | 65.6% |
| Government | 95 | 0.1% | 4 | 31.8% |
554 GLP-1 Requests Closed Since 2020. 2024 Remains the Peak Year.
GLP-1 FOIA requests grew steadily from 2020 through the 2024 peak, then eased in 2025 as some of that year's filings remain in the pending queue rather than closed. 2026 volume is already running ahead of 2025's pace through July, though a portion of this year's requests are also still open. Of the 554 total, 300 (54%) have been fully released. FAERS reports are the single most-requested doc type (213), followed by agency correspondence (86), NDA review files (74), and ANDA files (41).
Bar length (in block characters) proportional to count, scaled to 2024's peak of 278. Figures reflect requests closed in each calendar year; 2026 YTD is through July. A meaningful share of 2025- and 2026-filed GLP-1 requests remain pending and will show up in later years' totals as they close.
Notable: Bloomberg's 2024 request for GLP-1 drug communications with food and beverage companies (closed after 705 days with "No Records") signals investigative appetite for supply chain and commercial angle. The Hunterbrook Media request on BPI Labs / Belcher Pharma compounding enforcement released after 695 days.
Top 20 Most-Referenced Companies & Products/Topics
Companies are counted from the Company field (populated on about 25% of requests). Lines marked "(all entities)" combine every spelling variant of that company into one count. Products/topics are counted from a text search of the Title field, which is why some names, like Infant Formula or Fresenius, rank high on the right without appearing on the left.
TOP 20 COMPANIES
TOP 20 PRODUCTS / TOPICS
Watch List: Products With Significant FOIA Activity
| Product / Term | Category | First FOIA Yr | All Time | 2024 | 2026 YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| semaglutide | GLP-1 | 2021 | 267 | 159 | 32 |
| Syfovre | Ophthalmology | 2023 | 295 | 116 | 2 |
| Catalent | CMO / Enforcement | 2020 | 302 | 39 | 40 |
| Izervay | Ophthalmology | 2023 | 167 | 108 | 2 |
| JUUL | Tobacco / E-Cig | 2020 | 99 | 13 | 2 |
| Capricor | Cell Therapy / Rare | 2025 | 13 | 0 | 2 |
| ivermectin | Policy / COVID-era | 2020 | 61 | 11 | 1 |
| naloxone | Opioid / OTC | 2020 | 45 | 9 | 3 |
Product Tracker pulls from the Title column. Subscriber access includes the live spreadsheet with formula-based tracking. Add any term to auto-populate counts.
Request Volume by Year
Bar length (in block characters) proportional to count, scaled to 2024's peak of 13,394. 2026 YTD (7,583 closed through July) is a partial year and shown without a bar; 5,803 more requests across all years remain pending.
A Baseline, Not a Snapshot
This special edition is meant to be evergreen: the full historical picture behind the FDA FOIA Monitor, not a single month's numbers. New subscribers can start here to understand the shape of the dataset before reading a monthly issue.