The US Food and Drug Administration under a second Trump administration is mired in discord, acrimony and chaos —a state of dysfunction that threatens the nation’s standing as a global leader in biomedical innovation and could ultimately mean patients face longer waits for new treatments and products.
When Marty Makary was picked to lead the FDA, some (myself included) saw an agency head who held some concerning views about Covid-19. Still, there was cautious optimism that he would ensure the agency’s core work — overseeing the safety and efficacy of drugs, vaccines and other biomedical products, as well as the nation’s food supply — continued largely undisturbed.