Resources For Finding Information Previously Disclosed Under FOIA

Alphabet Soup (U.S. Federal Agencies) CDER: Center For Drug Evaluation and Research; CBER: Center For Biologics Evaluation and Research; CDRH: Center For Devices and Radiological Health; FDA: Food and Drug Administration (part of HHS); HHS: Department of Health & Human Services; OHRP: Office For Human Research Protections (part of HHS); OIG: Office of the Inspector General

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• FDA Freedom of Information Home Page
• How to Make a FOIA Request
• Archived 2008-01-29 FDA Table of Medical Device Information Releasable Through Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
• FDA Electronic Reading Room Index of Categories of Documents
• FDA CDER Bioresearch Monitoring Information System Database Search (Find investigators, institutions, and IRBs involved in drug studies conducted under IND applications)
• Drug Approvals and Databases
• Drugs@FDA (A searchable database of FDA approved drugs.)
• FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Postmarketing Committments Database
• FDA Warning Letters and Administrative Actions: FDA Links on the CIRCARE Website
• FDA CDER Clinical Investigator Inspection List Database Search (Find inspections of clinical investigators involved in drug studies conducted under IND applications)
• FDA Medical Device Databases
  • Devices@FDA (Searchable database of medical devices approved or cleared for marketing by FDA)
• FDA Recalls, Market Withdrawals, and Safety Alerts
• FDA Enforcement Report Index
  • Archived 2008-02-23: FDA Enforcement Report Index (Back to 1995)
• FDA News Page
• FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA)
• FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs Enforcement Story (Lively (relatively speaking) updated narrative of FDA adminstrative, civil, and criminal actions)
• Also see the CIRCARE FDA Information Index

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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

• HHS Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts Division
  • HHS Electronic Reading Room
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Offices (Each NIH institute and center has its own FOIA coordinator; find names and contact information for NIH FOIA requests)
  • NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT) (NIH database of federally funded biomedical research. Include the grant ID number in NIH FOIA requests)
  • NIH Extramural Awards by State and Foreign Site (Archived webpages) (NIH award data by year. Select a year and then select a state; the state file lists institutions and investigators in alphabetical order. Because the files can be very large, use the find function in your web browser to find the last name of an investigator or an institution. Information includes investigator name, institutional affiliation, grant title, grant ID, and amount of award. Include the grant ID number in FOIA requests)
  • NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (The NIH Guide listsRFPs and RFAs for large extramural studies and more)
• Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Determination Letters
  • Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Searchable Database of Assurances (Use this database to find FWAs filed by IRBs and institutions (e.g., hospitals, universities, clinics, or physicians' offices))
• HHS Office of Research Integrity
  • Office of Research Integrity Case Summaries (With links to findings of misconduct and adminstrative actions)
  • Office of Research Newsletters
• HHS Office of Inspector General Reading Room
  • HHS Departmental Appeals Board Search (ALJ decisions for federal program exclusions and sanctions)
  • HHS Office of Inspector General Freedom of Information Act (FOIA information specific to DHHS Office of Inspector General)
  • HHS Office of Inspector General Exclusions Program (Find individuals and corporations excluded from the Medicare and Medicaid programs)
  • U.S. Government Excluded Parties List System (Find individuals and corporations excluded from participation in federal programs)

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U.S. Government Agencies

• U.S. Department of Energy OpenNet
• United States Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act (About the Freedom of Information Act.)
• DOJ FOIA Reading Rooms
• Compass DOJ Search
• FBI – Freedom of Information Act
• Federal Trade Commission E-Reading Room
• OMBWatch FedSpending.org
• Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR Database (Search for documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission)
• Thomas, U.S. Congress on the Internet
• United States Government Printing Office
  • Congressional Committee Materials Online Via GPO Access (NB: for committee hearings select the pdf file rather than the text version; the pdf file will contain scans of all exhibits, correspondence, and documents offered as supporting material)
• United States Tax Court (Opinion Search for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cases.)

United Kingdom

• Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Information Disclosures Under the FOI Act
• Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Medical Device Alerts
• Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Drug Alerts
• Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Public Assessment Reports for Medicines
• Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Drug Analysis Prints: Data on suspected drug adverse reactions

Health Canada: Links on the CIRCARE Website

Reverse FOIA

• Selected FDA FOIA logs; use this to find out who filed FOIA requests, what information was requested, and the date on which the FOIA request was received. This is the information routinely obtained in so-called reverse FOIA requests. Pros: Information is free and immediately available; best of all, you can use the information to expedite your requests if you find a previous disclosure of records you want. Cons: Coverage is thin.
• FDA FOIA Case Logs 2000: http://www.circare.org/FOIA/fda_foialog_2000.zip Source (now blocked by robots file): The Memory Hole
• FDA FOIA Case Logs 2001: http://www.circare.org/FOIA/fda_foialog_2001.zip Source (now blocked by robots file): The Memory Hole
• The Goverment Attic (Excellent selection of FOIA logs)
  • The Government Attic All Other FOIA Logs

Professional FOIA Services

• FOI Services Inc. (Pricey yet priceless when you need documents quickly: if FOI Services Inc. holds the document in their database, a download link is available after online purchase.)
• The FOIA Group Inc.
  • Efoia Inc. (U.S. government database listing by agency.)

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Non-Government Resources

• Drug Industry Document Archive University of California, San Francisco. (The Drug Industry Document Archive (DIDA) houses about 1000 documents drawn primarily from United States ex. rel. David Franklin vs. Parke-Davis, Division of Warner-Lambert Company (now owned by Pfizer, Inc). The litigation concerned the marketing of Neurontin (gabapentin). (See About the Project for more details.) DIDA also contains documents on the marketing of Vioxx (rofecoxib) from the public records of the Minority Office of the Congressional Committee on Government Reform. The documents in this Archive focus primarily on the marketing of Neurontin (gabapentin) and Vioxx (rofecoxib), and include internal documents from Parke-Davis, Merck & Co. and correspondence with outside physicians and organizations, such as medical education and communications companies and advertising firms. Also included are regulatory and legal documents, court filings and depositions.)
• FDA Drug Approval Documents Collection Oregon Health Sciences University Digital Resources Library: https://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/library/about/whats-new/fda-drug-approval-documents.cfm (FDA Medical Reviews for SSRIs and atypical anti-psychotics.)
• National Freedom of Information Coalition
• Public.resource.org
• Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
• Search Systems (Public Records; beware irritating delays to encourage subscription.)

Financial Information

• United States Securities & Exchange Commission EDGAR database search (Free searchable database for United States Securities & Exchange Commission filings)
  • Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (Securities litigation including case summaries and complaints)
• ActivistCash.com (Nonprofit funding and more)
• Foundation Center 990 Finder (Find nonprofit organizations' IRS returns)
• Guidestar The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations
• Charity Commission Register of Charities search (The regulator for charities in England and Wales)
• www.Opensecrets.org Money in Politics Data
• United States Senate Office of Public Records Lobby Filing Disclosure Program
• United States Internal Revenue Service Search for Charities Online Version of Publication 78 (Check 501(C) 3 and 6 rulings for nonprofit and professional organizations)

Internet and Beyond: Not FOIA Strictly Speaking But Useful

• SamSpade.org (Domain registration)
• DNSStuff.com (Everything domain-related)
• The Internet Archive (Cached web pages)
• Mailing List Search Sites (Courtesy of the Center for Information Technology at the National Institutes of Health)

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Last Updated: 2016-03-11

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