Trump Planning to Fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary

By MedTech Intelligence Staff

Top administration officials have become increasingly convinced Makary has to go because, in addition to months of turmoil, complaints from some in the pharmaceutical industry have continued to mount, people familiar with the matter said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary.

Top administration officials have become increasingly convinced Makary has to go because, in addition to months of turmoil, complaints from some in the pharmaceutical industry have continued to mount, people familiar with the matter said. Kennedy last year had considered installing someone else to run the FDA while Makary remained a figurehead.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump recently became frustrated with Makary for not moving fast enough to approve flavored vapes and other nicotine products. Makary in February refused to authorize blueberry and mango vape flavors from Los Angeles manufacturer Glas, worried that fruit flavors would encourage youth vaping. After the pressure from Trump, he reversed course and authorized the flavors. Makary has also run into criticism from biotech companies with rare-disease drugs, as well as patients and their advocates.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the influential president of antiabortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, recently renewed her call for Makary to be fired. The Wall Street Journal reported that Makary said he could have stalled approval of a generic form of the abortion pill, but didn’t.

Trump tapped Makary for the FDA post in November 2024, as Kennedy and other health department leaders bonded in meetings at Dr. Mehmet Oz’s oceanfront Florida mansion. Kennedy described Makary, along with Oz and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, as “friends” who stayed in each other’s homes and vacationed together, in a Fox News interview last year.

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