STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a top FDA official leaving, Sen. Cassidy challenging RFK Jr., and more

Rise and shine, another busy — and really hot — day is on the way. We can tell because the official mascots are spending less time on the dusty Pharmalot grounds and, instead, have curled up by the indoor cold-air blowing machines. As for us, we are testing the notion that a hot drink can cool you down. So we are firing up the trusty coffee kettle — a brand new one was delivered the other day — and getting set to quaff a few cups of stimulation. Our choice, for the moment, is pistachio creme. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, the time has come to get cracking. So here is the latest laundry list of interesting items for you to peruse. We hope you have a smashing day and, of course, do keep in touch. Best of luck, everyone. …

Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, the top drug regulator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is retiring from the agency in July, STAT reports. Corrigan-Curay, who took over as acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in January, broke the news to staff in an email. She wrote that she decided to leave the agency after taking a recent vacation, and thanked staff for their “unwavering support, especially during recent challenging times.” Corrigan-Curay will remain at the agency for several more weeks, but it is not clear who will replace her. She first joined the FDA in 2016 as the director of the office of medical policy at CDER and became the CDER deputy director in 2021. Top career officials at the FDA have been leaving the agency at a fast clip, with some choosing to take early retirements and others being forced out by political appointees. Few FDA center directors, who have typically stayed under new administrations, remain. 

A key U.S. Senate health leader is calling for this week’s meeting of the panel of vaccine advisers handpicked by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be delayed, citing their lack of experience and potential bias against some vaccines, STAT writes. “Although the appointees to [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology. In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccines, and may even have a preconceived bias against them,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) wrote on the social media site X Monday evening. Cassidy’s comments — including that the panel’s upcoming meeting be canceled until it is “fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation” — represent the harshest condemnation of Kennedy’s actions by the senator, who ultimately cast the key vote that secured Kennedy’s confirmation.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…