Trump Plans to Fire FDA Chief, Report Says

President Trump has signed off on a plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday.

Makary is seen by other top administration officials as struggling to manage the agency, and has sparred with both the White House and other health department officials, the outlet reported, most recently for not moving fast enough to approve flavored vapes and other nicotine products — which he finally authorized this week.

He would become the second major health agency chief fired by the Trump administration, following CDC Director Susan Monarez, PhD, last August.

WSJ noted that the plan isn’t final yet and could change.

Makary’s tenure was marked by the effects of mass layoffs in 2025, as well as by waves of turnover in agency leadership ranks, including the firing, then re-hiring, of Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, as the director of biologics and vaccines. Prasad left the agency last month for a second time.

The agency’s top drug regulator position has been a revolving cast under Makary’s leadership, with brief tenures from George Tidmarsh, MD, PhD, and Richard Pazdur, MD, and Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, MD. Currently, Tracy Beth Hoeg, MD, PhD, holds the position of acting director.

Administration officials have also become frustrated as complaints from some in the pharmaceutical industry have continued to mount, WSJ reported. Biotech companies with rare disease drugs have also criticized Makary.

Makary, a former editor-in-chief at MedPage Today, didn’t return a request for comment as of press time.

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