US FDA chief Marty Makary is stepping down after weeks of turmoil at the agency, including pressure from President Donald Trump to approve fruit-flavoured vapes.
Image: MANDEL NGAN / AFP
Marty Makary has resigned as head of the US Food and Drug Administration following mounting pressure over fruit-flavoured vape approvals.
President Donald Trump confirmed this week that Makary was stepping down after weeks of political turmoil at the agency.
Makary, who led the body responsible for regulating vaccines, medicines and food, had drawn criticism from industry leaders, politicians and public health figures during his tenure. Most recently, he reportedly faced pressure from Trump to approve fruit-flavoured vapes, an issue that intensified scrutiny around his leadership.
"Marty is a terrific guy, but he's going to go on, and he's going to lead a good life," Trump told reporters when asked if he had fired the FDA commissioner, a move rumored to be imminent for weeks.
The president later posted on his Truth Social platform an apparent text message from Makary, in which the departing official offered his resignation.
Trump thanked him for "having done a great job," saying he was "a hard worker, who was respected by all."
Kyle Diamantas, who previously worked as the agency's top food official, will now lead the FDA in an acting capacity, Trump said.
A surgeon and former Fox News contributor, Makary made waves during the Covid-19 pandemic as an outspoken critic of the medical establishment and the health measures of the time.
He took over the FDA promising reform. He leaves just over a year later facing criticism from all angles, including from pharmaceutical executives, tobacco lobbyists and anti-abortion activists.
Conservatives against the abortion pill mifepristone accuse Makary of taking too long to complete and issue a review of the drug that's been FDA-approved for 25 years, but which they continue to target.
The Trump administration meanwhile forged ahead with a policy allowing for the sale of flavored e-cigarettes despite resistance from Makary, who had voiced concern over their appeal to youth.
Many pharmaceutical executives said Makary's initiatives to shake up the drug review process had only created more problems.
And public health leaders accused him of catering to anti-vaccine activists after the FDA put out an unsupported memo claiming deaths linked to the Covid-19 vaccine.
It's the latest in a string of shake-ups at the health department overseen by noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr, with figures seen as more conventional put forth as nominees to be surgeon general as well as to helm the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Makary's departure was more "chaos" at the "beleaguered and battered Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)," said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest food and health watchdog organization.
"When you don't have a CDC Director, an FDA Commissioner, or a Surgeon General, the obvious question is: Why do you have this HHS Secretary?" said Lurie. "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is the cause of much of the chaos that has resulted in these job vacancies. HHS is rotting from the head."
AFP