The appeals court had previously granted an emergency stay of Cardinal's suspension, but on Friday the court said Cardinal did not satisfy the "stringent requirements" for a stay pending a review from the court.

Cardinal, one of the nation's largest drug distributors, said it would continue to meet customers' needs by shipping from other distribution centers.

The company is appealing a lower court ruling from February in favor of the DEA.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said it would hear oral arguments in September, and asked both sides to submit more information.

Independently, an administrative hearing on Cardinal's Lakeland, Florida license is scheduled to begin at the DEA on April 3. That process could take as long as a year to play out as both sides present their case.

The DEA had initially suspended Cardinal's Florida license on February 3 because of concerns Cardinal was not adequately monitoring its customers for inappropriate dispensing of prescription drugs.

It said Cardinal knew or should have known that four of its customers, including two CVS Caremark Corp pharmacies, were inappropriately filling prescriptions for oxycodone, which can be highly addictive.

The DEA also sought to prevent CVS from selling controlled drugs at the two Florida stores, although an appeals court issued a temporary stay on the suspension on Wednesday.

Prescription drug abuse has surged in the United States, eclipsing the abuse of most illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The DEA has sought to make drug wholesalers play a bigger role in fighting the problem.

But distributors such as Cardinal argue they are unfairly targeted because it is easier for the DEA to attack a distributor than the thousands of doctors who write the prescriptions.

The case is Cardinal Health Inc v. Justice Department et al in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 12-5061.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov, additional reporting by Jon Stempel in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency