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STAT+: FDA chief’s goals of ‘radical transparency’ threatened by agency cuts
FDA chief wants more transparency and fewer conflicts of interest. Staff warn cuts may do the opposite.
WASHINGTON — Even before he took over the Food and Drug Administration, Marty Makary called for frequent, transparent meetings of the independent panels that advise the agency on controversial regulatory decisions.
But current and former agency staff, as well as medical ethics experts, say recent cuts at the FDA are already making it more difficult to plan and run those meetings — and to ensure that the members of those committees don’t have conflicts of interest, a stated priority of Makary and of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In April, the Department of Health and Human Services fired 3,500 workers at the FDA, including people working in roles that would seemingly help the administration achieve the stated goal of “radical transparency.” Workers processing requests under the Freedom of Information Act were let go, and then rehired a month later. But many of the advisory committee staff, including the drug center’s conflict of interest team, have not been brought back.
