Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz (L) and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary (R) look on as President Donald Trump before signing an executive order aiming to lower the cost of prescription drugs in Washington, D.C., on May 12. Dr. Vinay Prasad, the chief scientific officer at the Food and Drug Administration, has resigned after only three months in the position. File photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo
Dr. Vinay Prasad, the chief scientific officer at the Food and Drug Administration, has resigned after only three months in the position.
“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. “We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at FDA.”
The spokesperson didn’t say who would replace Prasad. They also didn’t give a reason for the resignation.
Prasad had served as director of the FDA’s director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He replaced Dr. Peter Marks who was forced out by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Prasad faced mounting criticism from right-wing activist Laura Loomer and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
“Far from being the reformist ally the Trump administration expected he may be, Prasad’s liberal ideology, outspoken anti-Trump rhetoric, and deliberate actions to obstruct the President’s deregulatory agenda make him a dangerous misfit in this critical position,” Loomer wrote on her website.
On social media and on her website, she’s called him a “saboteur” and “trojan horse” of the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.
Loomer focused on his past support for Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders. Loomer called Prasad a “Lifelong Progressive with a Vicious Anti-Trump Record” and wrote that “Prasad’s views are a slap in the face to the conservative values of limited government, deregulation, and economic freedom that YOU voted for!”
In a Politico published last weekend, FDA chief Marty Markay defended Prasad.
“There’s not a political bone to his body,” Makary said. “He’s an impeccable scientist, I think one of the greatest minds of our generation.”
Another issue is a regulatory dispute with Sarepta Therapeutics, which manufactures a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The agency forced Sarepta to stop all shipments and stop clinical trials after two people who received the drug died.
FDA released records earlier this month that showed Prasad overrode career staff to limit approvals of COVID-19 shots from Novavax and Moderna.
