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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n On his way to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped by the home of podcaster Gary Brecka<\/a>. The two spent time in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and tried some intravenous nutrition drips that Brecka, a self-avowed longevity and wellness maven, sells and promotes on his show, \u201cThe Ultimate Human.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Then the podcast taping started<\/a>, and Kennedy \u2014 who was also on the mic \u2014 took aim at Big Pharma\u2019s influence on federal health policy.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have a sick-care system in our country, and the etiology ultimately of all that disease is corruption,\u201d Kennedy said before the show cut away to an ad for vitamin chips. \u201cAnd it\u2019s the capture of these agencies by the industries they are supposed to regulate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n While Kennedy lambastes federal agencies he says are overly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, he and some other figures of the \u201cMake America Healthy Again<\/a>,\u201d or MAHA, movement \u2014 such as siblings Calley and Casey Means, Robert Malone, and Peter McCullough \u2014 have their own financial ties to a vast and largely unregulated $6.3 trillion global wellness industry they also support and promote.\n <\/p>\n \n Kennedy and those four advisers \u2014 three of whom have been tapped for official government roles \u2014 earned at least $3.2 million in fees and salaries from their work opposing Big Pharma and promoting wellness in 2022 and 2023, according to a KFF Health News review of financial disclosure forms filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Health and Human Services; published media reports; and tax forms filed with the IRS.\n <\/p>\n \n The total doesn\u2019t include revenue from speaking fees, the sale of wellness products, or other income sources for which data isn\u2019t publicly available.\n <\/p>\n \n The Means siblings have launched wellness companies that have raised more than $99 million from investors, according to company news releases<\/a> as well as information from Clay<\/a>, a customer research data company, and Tracxn, an information technology firm<\/a> that provides access to a database of companies, funding rounds, and investor information.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSecretary Kennedy, and all HHS officials, fully comply with all ethics and financial disclosure laws,\u201d agency spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an email. \u201cAny attempt to suggest impropriety is reckless and politically motivated.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Some public health leaders and ethicists say the financial ties raise red flags, with the potential for personal profits to shape decision-making at the highest levels of federal health agencies.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s becoming completely corrupted,\u201d said Arthur Caplan, founding head of the medical ethics division at New York University\u2019s Grossman School of Medicine. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have a vested interest in making recommendations on wellness or supplements or health. It opens the door to all kinds of shenanigans. Big Wellness is no different than Big Pharma. They\u2019re a well-organized political force.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Unlike any other previous administration, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has elevated anti-vaccine and wellness leaders<\/a> to positions at HHS from which they can steer federal policy. Adherents to the MAHA movement say the change is long overdue, arguing that previous administrations haven\u2019t devoted sufficient attention to the potential harms of traditional medical approaches.\n <\/p>\n \n Critics including health policy leaders and physicians say they worry the revamped HHS and its agencies are now harming public health. For example, they point to a recent Kennedy decision to remove and replace all the members of a vaccine advisory group, a move the American Medical Association<\/a> criticized as lacking transparency and proper vetting. Two of Kennedy\u2019s newly named panel members \u2014 Malone and Martin Kulldorff \u2014 previously earned money as paid experts in vaccine lawsuits against Merck, as first reported by Reuters<\/a> and the life-sciences news outlet BioSpace<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Calley Means, who has criticized the recommended U.S. vaccine schedule for youths and has no medical training, is a special government employee<\/a> and a top health adviser to Kennedy. He also co-founded the wellness company Truemed<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n The company enables people to spend pretax dollars from Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts to pay for wellness products, health food<\/a>, and SoulCycle classes<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Truemed\u2019s website says it can provide customers with a \u201cLetter of Medical Necessity\u201d for the items.\n <\/p>\n \n The IRS has warned consumers about companies that misrepresent wellness items like food as FSA-eligible when they are not, in fact, permitted medical expenses.\n <\/p>\n \n The IRS did not respond to questions about the status of that policy under the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2024, when Kennedy was running for president as an independent, he promoted Means\u2019 company on his own podcast<\/a>. Means also promoted his close connection with Kennedy last year on podcasts<\/a> and on Instagram while also using social media<\/a> to advance Truemed<\/a>. And while working for the public as a special government employee since March, Means has used social and new media to promote podcasters who make money selling wellness products, to criticize specific pharmaceutical drugs<\/a>, and to tout the wellness book<\/a> he co-wrote, \u201cGood Energy,\u201d according to a KFF Health News review of social media posts and podcasts.\n <\/p>\n \n Means has also used podcasts and social media to rail against<\/a> new injectable weight loss drugs. The Trump administration in April decided not to finalize a rule that would have allowed<\/a> Medicaid and Medicare to cover the injectable drugs, putting them out of reach for millions of potential users.\n <\/p>\n \n Hilliard, the HHS spokesperson, didn\u2019t respond to questions about whether Means, as a Kennedy adviser, has recused himself from decisions that could affect his business. Neither HHS nor the White House responded to requests to speak with him.\n <\/p>\n \n His sister, Casey Means<\/a>, is Trump\u2019s pick for surgeon general and was also an adviser<\/a> to Kennedy during his 2024 presidential run. She co-founded Levels<\/a>, a company valued at $300 million<\/a> in 2022 that promotes glucose monitoring for nondiabetic, healthy individuals. Consumers pay<\/a> $199 for a one-month supply of continuous glucose monitors.\n <\/p>\n \n She has used social media to call for public policy that would encourage blood sugar monitoring for healthy individuals, saying \u201ctips to stabilize<\/a> glucose should be on every billboard in America.\u201d Research has found little evidence<\/a> that such monitoring provides health benefits for people without diabetes.\n <\/p>\n \n Her company stands to benefit under the Trump administration. Kennedy said in April that he was considering a regulatory framework for federal health programs\u2019 coverage of injectable weight loss drugs that would first require patients to try glucose monitoring or other options.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd if they don\u2019t work, then you would be entitled to the drug,\u201d he told CBS News<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Casey Means isn\u2019t a practicing doctor and doesn\u2019t hold an active medical license, according to records from the Oregon Medical Board. And, as an online influencer, she \u201cfailed to disclose that she could profit\u201d from sales of products she recommends, according to The Associated Press.\n <\/p>\n \n HHS spokesperson Hilliard didn\u2019t answer questions about whether Casey Means would recuse herself from working on anything that would directly benefit her company, or why she didn\u2019t disclose that she could profit from sales of products she recommends. HHS didn\u2019t respond to questions about Means\u2019 ties to Kennedy or agency support for glucose monitoring, nor did the agency respond to a request to speak directly to the Trump surgeon general pick.\n <\/p>\n \n McCullough, a former cardiac doctor who has financial ties to the wellness industry, has been part of Kennedy\u2019s circle of informal advisers, according to people close to the secretary. He also has enough sway with some GOP lawmakers that they\u2019ve had him testify before Congress. In May, he told a Senate subcommittee<\/a> that mRNA covid-19 vaccines can lead to deaths<\/a> that have been underreported. But the FDA says the covid vaccines are safe<\/a>, with fewer than 1 in 200,000 vaccinated individuals<\/a> experiencing a severe allergic reaction or heart problems like myocarditis or pericarditis.\n <\/p>\n \n He profits from his anti-covid-vaccine message. McCullough devised a protocol he says helps people detox<\/a> from covid mRNA shots, selling the products through The Wellness Co. McCullough is the company\u2019s chief scientific officer, draws a partial salary<\/a>, and holds an equity stake.\n <\/p>\n \n For $89.99, consumers can purchase Ultimate Spike Detox supplements containing nattokinase, an enzyme from fermented soybeans<\/a>. A two-month supply of Spike Support supplements sells on Amazon for about $62. More than 900 bottles have sold in the past month.\n <\/p>\n \n McCullough didn\u2019t respond to an email seeking comment. HHS also didn\u2019t respond to questions about his relationship with Kennedy.\n <\/p>\n \n Some health policy leaders and doctors say the financial connections federal health officials and advisers have to the wellness industry raise concerns.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s exactly the problem RFK has taken up with the FDA, saying it\u2019s too beholden to pharma,\u201d said Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen you\u2019re in bed with supplement manufacturers, you are creating the same kinds of conflicts of interest, whether or not you directly profit,\u201d he said. \u201cYou should be independently advocating for public health, not cheerleading for any particular industry.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The wellness sector includes personal care, weight loss, health, nutrition, and wellness tourism.\n <\/p>\n \n Its lobbying influence is markedly smaller than the lobbying reach of pharmaceutical companies, according to OpenSecrets, a research organization that tracks money in U.S. politics. The nutritional and dietary supplements industry<\/a> spent about $3.7 million on lobbying in 2024, for example, compared with the $387 million the pharmaceutical industry spent the same year.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s also gotten far less scrutiny. The industry is a growing political force with its own lobbyists, celebrities, and industry-backed advocacy groups, and research shows that public interest in wellness<\/a> has grown since the pandemic. Eighty-four percent of U.S. consumers say wellness is a \u201ctop\u201d or \u201cimportant\u201d priority, according to a survey released this year<\/a> by McKinsey & Co.\n <\/p>\n \n Unlike with Big Pharma, there\u2019s scant regulation of the industry. Companies can sell supplements and other products without notifying the FDA<\/a>, and there\u2019s little oversight<\/a> by the Federal Trade Commission<\/a> of their product claims.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe wellness industry profiteers by undermining and creating distrust in science and regulated products,\u201d said Andrea Love<\/a>, an immunologist and microbiologist who founded ImmunoLogic, a science and health education organization. \u201cThey are messaging that the government and Big Pharma are hiding information and treatments or cures to keep us weak and vulnerable.\u201d\n <\/p>\n Ethics and disclosures<\/p>\n \n People on both sides of the issue say the industry has found its captain in Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist with deep ties to the MAHA and wellness movements.\n <\/p>\n \n He has profited by referring people to law firms that are suing over alleged vaccine injury. For example, he gets a fee for referring potential clients to a Los Angeles personal injury firm, according to a January ethics statement to HHS and his financial disclosures<\/a>. One of his adult sons works at the personal injury law firm.\n <\/p>\n \n When his nomination to the HHS secretary post was under consideration, Kennedy indicated in his ethics disclosure that he intended to continue profiting from lawsuits over Gardasil, a Merck vaccine that protects against HPV. After Democrats raised concerns with the financial relationship, he told Congress he would divest his interest and sign over the financial stake to one of his adult sons.\n <\/p>\n \n Federal ethics rules<\/a> bar government employees from participating in matters in which they, their spouse, or their minor child has a financial stake. It doesn\u2019t include adult children such as Kennedy\u2019s sons.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere are a lot of loopholes, and that is one of them,\u201d said Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog organization focused on U.S. government ethics and accountability. \u201cIt certainly is an appearance problem. Even if it\u2019s not a technical violation, it is an ethical problem in terms of influence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Some lawmakers and ethics leaders weren\u2019t mollified by Kennedy\u2019s planned divestiture. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Kennedy to agree to a four-year, post-employment ban on accepting any compensation from lawsuits involving any entity regulated by HHS.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt would be insufficient for RFK Jr. to only divest his interest in the Gardasil case while leaving the window open to profit from other anti-vax lawsuits, including future cases he could bring after leaving office,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Kennedy also made money on the MAHA name by applying in September 2024 to register it as a trademark. He transferred trademark ownership<\/a> to a limited liability company led by friend and MAHA ally Del Bigtree after making about $100,000 off the phrase, according to his financial disclosure.\n <\/p>\n \n HHS\u2019 Hilliard didn\u2019t answer questions about whether Kennedy had signed over his interest in fees from legal referrals to his son, the money he made by registering MAHA as a trademark, or whether he agreed with Warren\u2019s request that upon leaving office he accept a four-year ban on accepting money from lawsuits involving entities regulated by HHS.\n <\/p>\n \n Bigtree is executive director of the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN, an anti-vaccination group. He was communications director<\/a> for Kennedy\u2019s failed presidential campaign, and as an informal adviser<\/a> to the secretary he helped vet candidates for HHS jobs<\/a>. Bigtree\u2019s salary at the nonprofit was $234,000 for the 2023 fiscal year, according to documents filed with the IRS. ICAN paid $6 million<\/a> in legal fees to Siri & Glimstad in 2023. The firm\u2019s managing partner, Aaron Siri<\/a>, focuses on vaccine injury. He has been Kennedy\u2019s personal lawyer<\/a> and adviser, and also helped vet candidates<\/a> for the secretary.\n <\/p>\n \n Brown, an ethics counselor, said the transfer and ongoing advisory relationship could raise questions about who is influencing Kennedy. Bigtree, at a Politico event<\/a> in February, called on Kennedy to recruit scientists to HHS who believe vaccines cause autism, for example. One of Kennedy\u2019s early actions at HHS was the launch of a study on the causes of autism.\n <\/p>\n \n ICAN didn\u2019t respond to an email seeking comment. HHS also didn\u2019t respond to questions about Kennedy\u2019s transfer of the MAHA trademark to Bigtree.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is the type of Washington wheeling and dealing that raises questions about integrity in government,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIf it was trademarked before he became a public official, there may be no law broken. But by transferring it to someone he knows, it illustrates the constant trickle of influence among those in power.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Past administrations have faced similar criticism over health regulators\u2019 ties to Big Pharma. Alex Azar, who led HHS during the previous Trump administration, worked for drugmaker Eli Lilly before entering public office. Robert Califf, FDA commissioner during the Biden administration, was a consultant to drug companies<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Scott Gottlieb, who was FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019 and an adviser to Trump\u2019s presidential campaign, stepped down to join the board of the drugmaker Pfizer.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cBig Pharma is well off. But, in general, financial conflicts don\u2019t depend on how much the organizations are spending,\u201d said Zeke Emanuel, a bioethicist who served on a covid advisory board under President Joe Biden. \u201cThe question is, is there a reasonable concern that financial or other concerns are affecting their judgment?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF<\/a> \u2014 the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.\n <\/p>\n
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