Makary out at FDA; food head Diamantas said to be stepping in
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary is about to become a former FDA chief, according to numerous press reports.
The departure comes as no surprise since President Donald Trump OK’d a plan to fire him last week.
It’s unclear who ultimately initiated the split, the administration or Makary himself. Either way, speculation is in high gear over who will take the reins next at the massive agency.
Politico is reporting receiving a leak from inside the White House identifying Kyle Diamantas, JD, as the next FDA head, probably in an “acting” capacity initially. Other outlets have picked up and run with that tip.
Diamantas currently serves as the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food, a job that has had him overseeing a $1 billion budget for FDA nutrition and food safety activities.
Diamantas is said to maintain a personal friendship with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.
As for the president’s signoff on Makary’s firing, that development seems to have been building for some time.
Perhaps coincidentally, however, today’s news comes the day before he was to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee about the FDA’s proposed budget.
CNN notes Makary “had come under intense and sustained pressure from both within the administration—including over his resistance to approving the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, an episode that prompted Trump to confront him directly—and from outside allies, including in the pharmaceutical industry and anti-abortion interest groups.”
What’s more, Makary was at the FDA’s helm at a time when it endured a conspicuous level of churn in its upper management levels.
Fox News Digital is reporting word from an unnamed White House official that Makary’s departure “has to do with ‘process at the FDA’ and not a specific issue.”
The official added that there is “no bad blood” between President Donald Trump and the outgoing commissioner.
“Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed for Makary’s resignation, according to the White House official,” Fox News Digital adds.
The development is moving fast across the media ecosystem. Additional details are sure to emerge by the end of the week.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.