Copyright The Daily Beast
A growing number of FDA employees are eyeing the exits as chaos and uncertainty sweep through the agency, according to internal text messages obtained by Axios. “If they could get enough money elsewhere, if they could get remote jobs, if they could get as much vacation, they would just leave,” a former FDA staffer told Axios, speaking of current employees. “I don’t know that I’ve talked to anyone who’s happy there.” The turmoil, presided over by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr, hit new levels after the resignation of George Tidmarsh, the FDA’s top drug regulator, who stepped down amid a lawsuit accusing him of using his position to retaliate against a former business associate. Tidmarsh denied the allegations, telling The New York Times he believed he was being punished for questioning a new program designed to fast-track certain drug approvals. He vowed to fight his ouster, Endpoints News reported. Former associate FDA commissioner Peter Pitts told Axios the fallout is compounding the agency’s staffing crisis. “Good people leave and the other problem is, because of all of this perceived chaos, it becomes even harder for the FDA to recruit new employees,” he said. “And it’s never been easy.” The internal disarray follows reporting from Stat that described the agency’s biologics and vaccines division as “rife with mistrust and paranoia” under director Vinay Prasad, who briefly left the agency earlier this year after criticism from right-wing activist Laura Loomer—only to return weeks later. The stakes extend far beyond agency morale. The pharmaceutical and biotech sectors depend on a steady and predictable FDA to steer billions in investments. “When pharmaceutical companies… see that you can’t predict what the FDA is going to do from day to day, they simply take their investment dollars and place them elsewhere,” Pitts warned. The latest crisis comes on the heels of thousands of FDA layoffs earlier this year as part of the Trump administration’s federal downsizing push. Analysts at Raymond James noted in mid-October that the agency’s 32 drug approvals so far this year are “a bit behind” previous years, adding that staffing shortfalls could soon force the FDA to either slow approvals or lower review standards—“which could endanger the public.” An analysis by RBC Capital Markets found third-quarter approval rates had dropped, while rejections and review delays climbed. Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard insisted the FDA remains “fully operational,” saying its work “continues to be guided by science, not politics.”
